Germany looks into suspicions of price-fixing in food sector
Price-fixing scandals in the food industry are seemingly popping up all across Europe with Germany’s competition authority the latest to issue an investigation into alleged price-fixing amongst food manufacturers and retailers.
Metro, Edeka, and Rewe have admitted to being among 11 German retailers raided by the German Federal Cartel Office and police in the price-fixing probe, according to Bloomberg.
Federal Cartel Office employees, together dozens of police officers, have searched the premises of 15 companies as they look for evidence of cartel-like behaviour.
“The authority is acting on the suspicion that branded manufacturers have agreed with retailers in the product areas of confectionery, coffee and pet food on the design of retail prices,” a statement from the competition authority advised*.
If a company is found guilty of such behaviour they can expect heavy fines – potentially in the order of ten per cent of annual turnover. Late last year three German coffee companies were found guilty of price-fixing, leading to fines of €160 million (A$250m).
* Translated from German.
Over the weekend, Amazon acquired Whole Foods, a premium American supermarket chain which only sells...
Fonterra has increased is 2016/17 forecasted farmgate milk price by 15 cents to $6.15 per kilogram o...
Wine Australia and Tourism Australia have partnered for a $36 million marketing campaign which will ...
Global consumer goods producer, Unilever, has developed new technology which will allow it to recycl...
Unnecessarily avoiding gluten could be harming your heart says the authors behind a new study publis...
The A2 Milk Company and Synlait Milk have entered into a new five-year arrangement for the supply of...
A ‘pharmacy’ specialising in fresh foods has officially opened in the United States.
American supermarket expert, Phil Lempert, has predicted that “2017 promises to be one of the most e...