Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Vegetable company fined €5.2M for participating in canned mushrooms cartel, (Apr 7, 2016)
Organizations Mentioned:Riberebro
By Greg Hammond, J.D.
The European Commission (EC) has fined Spanish canned and fresh vegetable company Riberebro nearly €5.2 million for participating in a cartel to coordinate prices and allocate customers of canned mushrooms in Europe.
The cartel affected canned mushrooms sold in tins and jars for private label sales in the European Economic Area, the EC announced. Overall, the aim of the cartelists was to stabilize their market shares and stop prices from dropping, according to the EC. To achieve this, the cartel members exchanged confidential information on sales, set minimum prices, agreed on volume targets, and allocated customers among themselves.
Riberebro has been fined €5.194 million for participating in the cartel from approximately September 10, 2010, until February 28, 2012. In reaching this final fine amount, the EC took into account Riberebro’s sales of the products in the European Economic Area, the serious nature of the infringement, its geographic scope, its duration, the appropriate level of deterrence, and the company’s ability to pay the fine. The company received a reduction of 50 percent, however, for cooperating with the investigation.
Companies: Riberebro
News: Antitrust