Portuguese Watchdog Imposes Fines On Six Large Retail Food Chains

The Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) imposed a total fine of €304 million (US$372.1 million) on six large food retail chains, two beverage suppliers, a board member and a director for price fixing of the suppliers’ products, a practice which seriously harms consumers. 

The first decision adopted by the AdC  concerns concerted pricing  between Modelo Continente, Pingo Doce, Auchan, and Intermarché, as well as supplier Sociedade Central de Cervejas (SCC), a SCC board member and a business unit director of Modelo Continente. 

In a second decision, the AdC fined the same four large food retail chains (Modelo Continente, Pingo Doce, Auchan, and Intermarché), as well as Lidl and Cooplecnorte (E. Leclerc), for concerted pricing through spirits supplier Primedrinks. 

In the first case, the AdC’s investigation determined that the distributors and the supplier concerted prices for more than 9 years – between 2008 and 2017. This concerned several SCC products, such as beers Sagres and Heineken, ciders and sparkling water such as Bandida do Pomar and Água do Luso. The practice included bringing prices up gradually and progressively in the retail market.

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