Türkiye's competition board fines seven panel makers over timber tenders

Türkiye's Competition Board has fined seven makers of MDF and particle board a combined TL 1.33bn for coordinating their bids in timber sale tenders run by the General Directorate of Forestry, the Competition Authority said on 26 October.

Six of the companies settled with the Board between 30 April and 21 May 2026 and were fined about TL 860m between them. The seventh, Yıldız Entegre Ağaç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, did not settle; the Board found that it had infringed Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition and fined it TL 469,894,576.63 under Article 16(3) by a decision of 15 October, the Authority's announcement says. The timber bought at these tenders is the raw material for the panels that go into furniture and kitchen cabinets.

The Forestry Directorate sells that timber through allocated sales and through open auctions on its electronic sales platform, where the highest bid wins, Endeks24 reported. In the Board's view, it added, agreements between bidders stop tender prices from forming under free competition and so can reduce public revenue. The announcement gives no tender volumes, prices or periods.

Six settlements and one Board decision

The largest settled fine fell on Kastamonu Entegre Ağaç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, at TL 514,840,565.15, and the second largest on Kronospan Orman Ürünleri Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, at TL 148,058,491.75; both settlements are dated 30 April 2026, according to the announcement as reproduced by Alomaliye. Çamsan Ordu Ağaç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ was fined TL 88,355,667.57, Çamsan Entegre Ağaç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ TL 57,489,281.12 and Divapan Entegre Ağaç Panel Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ TL 23,276,761.61, all by settlement decisions of 14 May.

Vezirköprü Orman Ürünleri ve Kâğıt Sanayi AŞ was fined TL 27,934,128.63 by a settlement decision of 21 May. Together, Kastamonu Entegre and Yıldız Entegre account for about 74 per cent of the total, a share Endeks24 also calculated. On the Authority's figures the fines total TL 1,329,849,472.46.

Settlement in a Turkish competition case means admitting the infringement in exchange for a lower fine. Under the Settlement Regulation published in the Official Gazette on 15 July 2021, the Board may cut the fine by 10 to 25 per cent, and a party that settles cannot take the fine or the settlement text to court. Çamsan Entegre disclosed on the Public Disclosure Platform on 27 August that its fine came from a settlement decision of 14 May, that it planned to pay TL 43,116,961 using the 25 per cent reduction the legislation allows for early payment, and that it expected no material adverse effect on its operations, liquidity or ability to meet its obligations, Endeks24 reported.

How the case was built

The announcement cites a Board decision of 18 April 2025 that opened the investigation, and the version reproduced by Alomaliye also cites a decision of 11 September 2025. The first stage became public on 20 May 2025, when the Authority said a complaint had alleged collusion over the supply of raw material and that it was opening a full investigation into Çamsan Entegre, Kastamonu Entegre and Kronospan, in an announcement that stressed this did not mean the companies had broken the law.

Yıldız Entegre's oral defence was set for 6 October, as the hearing notice listed in our report on the Adkoturk case set out. At that hearing the company's representative said it had not taken part in sharing tenders, Endeks24 reported. No statement from the company after the decision had been reported by 29 October.

Five of the seven were fined in a 2021 panel case

On 1 April 2021 the Board concluded an investigation into 14 undertakings in the MDF and particle board market and fined 11 of them for agreeing among themselves in breach of Article 4, its announcement of 6 April 2021 says. Kastamonu Entegre, Kronospan, Yıldız Entegre, Çamsan Ordu and Divapan were among the 11. Çamsan Entegre was not fined in that case, because no infringement was established. That decision concerned the market for the panels themselves; this one concerns the timber the producers buy from the state.

Public tenders are a recurring subject for the Authority this autumn. On 19 October it opened an investigation into ten caterers over meal tenders for public institutions, as we reported, and on 9 October it announced that it had closed its EssilorLuxottica case by accepting commitments, set out in our piece on that decision.