November 28, 2013

EU penalises shrimp companies for forming price cartel

European regulators have fined four North Sea shrimp traders €28 million (US$38 million) for forming a cartel to divide the market and set prices at an artificially high level.

The four companies involved are Heiploeg, Klaas Puul and Kok Seafood of the Netherlands and Stuerk of Germany. The European Commission stated that customers in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands were directly affected during 2003-07.

Together, the companies controlled 80 % of the European shrimp market, worth €100 million (US$136 million) annually. Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the level of information-sharing between the four companies was "astonishing," given that several Dutch traders had been fined shortly before the new cartel was launched.