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France fines yogurt cartel 193m euros for price-fixing | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
French authorities have fined the country's top yogurt makers €193m (£136m; $204m) for engaging in a price-fixing cartel for six years. | |
Eleven firms - representing 90% of France's yogurt makers - were involved in setting the price of supermarket own-brand yoghurt and dairy products. | |
The collusion was first reported by Yoplait, which received no fines in return for exposing the cartel. | The collusion was first reported by Yoplait, which received no fines in return for exposing the cartel. |
Some firms are appealing against the fines. | Some firms are appealing against the fines. |
In a statement, Lactalis Nestle - which received the largest penalty of €56.1m - said it obeyed all laws and that the fines "overestimate in an obvious way the gravity of what happened, and their impact on the economy". | |
Laiterie de Saint Malo, which was fined €300,000, said it would appeal against the charges. | |
The other companies are Senagral, Novandie, Les Maitres Laitiers du Cotentin, Alsace Lait, Laita, Yeo Frais and Laiterie H Triballat. | The other companies are Senagral, Novandie, Les Maitres Laitiers du Cotentin, Alsace Lait, Laita, Yeo Frais and Laiterie H Triballat. |
Senagral, which incurred a penalty of €101.3m, had the fine reduced to €46m as it also participated in the whistleblower scheme. | |
Clandestine meetings | |
The ruling found that the 11 firms colluded on how and when to drive up prices - and by what amount - for six years, from 2006 to 2012. | The ruling found that the 11 firms colluded on how and when to drive up prices - and by what amount - for six years, from 2006 to 2012. |
The cartel set prices for products including yoghurt, fromage frais, creme fraiche, and dairy desserts. | |
According to the complaint, yoghurt executives used dedicated secret mobile phones to come together for clandestine meetings at hotels, each time varying the meeting places for the sake of discretion. | |
The mobiles were not officially assigned to users and their names did not appear on the bills. | |
In addition to hotels, they also met in a well-established Parisian cafe called Au Chien qui Fume (The Smoking Dog). | |
On occasion they repaired to the central Parisian apartment of one of the executives "to continue the meetings and smoke a cigarette," according to the complaint. | |
The cartel was identified under a scheme that reduces or waives fines for whistleblowers. | |
Supermarkets and hypermarkets are the main market for French dairy products, accounting for 92% of sales of yoghurts, fromage frais or creme fraiche, and worth around €5bn in 2013, the competition authority said. | |
Danone, the world's largest yoghurt maker, does not sell products under supermarkets' own brands and was not part of the cartel. | Danone, the world's largest yoghurt maker, does not sell products under supermarkets' own brands and was not part of the cartel. |