By our economics editors
Dec 14, 2023 at 12:58 PM Update: 33 minutes ago
Supervisory authority ACM has tackled a Dutch carrot cartel. Four carrot growers and sellers have been fined a total of more than 2.5 million euros due to unauthorized agreements about dividing the market.
This concerns growers and sellers Laarakker, VanRijsingen, Veco and Verduyn. The four companies sell carrots and Parisian carrots to canning and frozen manufacturers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Carrots are often sold in jars or cans in a mix with peas.
The four companies had agreed in 2018 that they would not compete with each other everywhere for ten years. For example, Veco would not grow or sell wax carrots for ten years. In addition, Laarakker, VanRijsingen and Verduyn would ignore the Parisian roots.
The other carrot sellers also paid Veco to compensate for the agreements. Laarakker and Veco also made separate agreements about the delivery of Parisian carrots to German customers.
Such agreements are prohibited. If competition is not achieved as a result of this cooperation and there is therefore a cartel, buyers may pay a higher price, says the ACM.
Two of the carrot companies cooperated by sharing more information about the unauthorized agreements with the regulator. As a result, they received a lower fine.
Image: ANP
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2023-12-14 11:58:54
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