NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Manhattan

on Wednesday dismissed a nationwide antitrust lawsuit accusing

six companies that sell the vast majority of concrete and cement

additives in the United States and Europe of conspiring to drive

up prices.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman said the "extreme and

persistent" price hikes alleged by purchasers were "episodic,"

and inconsistent with coordinated activity in the estimated $27

billion global market for additives and so-called admixtures.

"Plaintiffs' allegations fall short of suggesting that the

price increases were not the product of normal market forces or

that the explanations given were pretextual so as to suggest an

antitrust conspiracy," Liman wrote.

The defendants include Germany's BASF, Britain's

Cinven Group, Italy's Mapei, Ohio-based RPM, France's

Saint-Gobain and Switzerland's Sika.

According to court papers, they control an estimated 80% to

90% of the $3 billion U.S. market for the additives, which are

chemicals added to concrete, cement and mortar to improve the

finished products' strength and stability.

In his 50-page decision, Liman also said "plus factors" such

as mergers, memberships in trade associations, and scrutiny by

U.S. and European competition regulators suggested at most that

a price-fixing conspiracy was possible, not plausible.

Lawyers for the purchasers did not immediately respond to

requests for comment. Liman said the purchasers can try to

replead most claims. The alleged conspiracy began in 2017.

Litigation began after the European Commission in October

2023 conducted surprise inspections, which the purchasers called

"dawn raids," at several producers of construction chemicals, on

suspicion of possible anticompetitive conduct.

The commission said the inspections were a preliminary

investigatory step and did not mean it found anticompetitive

behavior.

In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed a

Pennsylvania grand jury had begun probing the concrete and

cement additives industry.

The case is In re Concrete and Cement Additives Antitrust

Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York,

No. 24-md-03097.