FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1997                             (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


            NUTRITE CORP. PLEADS GUILTY AND AGREES TO
              PAY $1.5 MILLION FINE FOR PRICE FIXING

                                 

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An Allentown, Pennsylvania explosives
company pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay a $1.5 million
criminal fine for conspiring to fix the price of ammonium nitrate
it sold in the United States, said the Department of Justice. 
Ammonium nitrate is used to make commercial explosives.

     Thus far, 12 other explosives manufacturers and distributors
and two individuals have pleaded guilty to similar conspiracies in
the Department's ongoing antitrust investigation of the explosives
and ammonium nitrate industries.  Including today's fine, the
violations have resulted in an industry-wide total of nearly $40
million in criminal fines.

     According to the charges filed in U.S. District Court in
Pittsburgh, Nutrite Corp.--formerly known as Nitrochem Corp.--and
co-conspirators discussed and exchanged information about their
future pricing plans and about the future pricing plans of other
competitors.  The conspiracy took place during May 1992.

     "The Justice Department will continue to prosecute
perpetrators of antitrust violations to the fullest extent of the
law," said Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Department's Antitrust Division.

     Ammonium nitrate can be combined with other chemicals to
produce explosives, such as ANFO (ammonium nitrate combined with
fuel oil), which are used in the mining, construction, and oil and
gas exploration industries.  Total sales of explosives and ammonium
nitrate exceed $1 billion annually in the United States.

     This case was handled by the Division's Litigation I Section
with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a Sherman
Act violation is a fine of $10 million, twice the pecuniary gain
the corporation derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss
suffered by the victims of the crime, whichever is greater.
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