Following years of investigation and legal action, three German sugar companies have been fined by the Federal Cartel Office for price fixing.
Sugar price fixing
Three of Germany’s sugar producers, Pfeifer & Langen, Südzucker AG and Nordzucker have been fined around 280 million euros by the Federal Cartel Office for price fixing. The three sugar producers colluded to fix the sugar price in a range of sales areas in order to obtain the highest possible revenue.
Price fixing activities between companies which sell similar products to similar target groups often result in rival businesses being unable to compete effectively.
Price fixing fine
The fine concludes years of investigations which included a number of enterprises being searched in 2013.
The largest part of the fine, amounting to around 200 million euros, has been imposed on the stock-market listed Südzucker AG.
In a press release, the company states it is willing to accept the fine as part of a settlement in order to ensure legal certainty, planning reliability and to bring the long-running legal proceedings to an end.
Südzucker AG confirmed that, despite the fine, its business projections for 2013/14 remain unchanged.
