Germany: Potato processors fined for cartel activities

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has fined two potato and onion packaging companies €13.2 million (US$15.8 million) for participating in an eight-year price fixing cartel. The proceeding was initiated in May 2013 with a sector-wide dawn raid following a leniency application.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said, “For years the companies concerned have agreed on an important parameter in the calculation of their weekly offers to Metro. By aligning their purchase prices used in the calculation, the two major suppliers of the Metro group virtually eliminated any price competition between them.”

The activities of the packaging companies include the purchase of the raw product, washing, sorting, packaging and to some extent cold-storing the goods and finally selling the packed potatoes and onions primarily to the food retail sector. Böhmer is one of the two leading potato and onion packaging plants in Germany; Kuhn, however, is only active in south-west Germany.

Full Content: Bundeskartellamt

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