EU fines Coroos, Groupe CECAB EUR 31m for canned veg cartel

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission has fined Coroos and Groupe CECAB a total of EUR 31,647,000 for breaching EU antitrust rules. Bonduelle was not fined as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission.

In its investigation, the Commission found that Bonduelle, Coroos and Groupe CECAB participated for more than 13 years in a cartel for the supply of certain types of canned vegetables to retailers and/or food service companies in the European Economic Area (EEA). The three companies admitted their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case.

"European consumers should have access to food at affordable prices," said the Competition Commissioner Commissioner Margrethe Vestager: "Competition enables that. But instead of competing with each other, Coroos and Groupe CECAB agreed to divide the market among themselves and to fix prices for canned vegetables across Europe. They did so for over a decade. These cartels ultimately hurt European consumers and with today's decision we send a clear message to companies that cartels are not accepted."

The aim of the three companies involved in the cartel was to preserve or strengthen their position on the market, to maintain or increase selling prices, to reduce uncertainty regarding their future commercial conduct and to formulate and control marketing and trading conditions to their advantage, says the EU executive. To achieve this aim, the companies set prices, agreed on market shares and volume quotas, allocated customers and markets, coordinated their replies to tenders, and exchanged commercially sensitive information.

The infringement covered the entire EEA and lasted from 19 January 2000 to 11 June 2013 for Bonduelle, and to 1 October 2013 for Coroos and Groupe CECAB.

The Commission's investigation revealed the existence of a single infringement comprising three separate agreements:

• An agreement covering private label sales of canned vegetables such as green beans, peas, peas-and-carrots mix, vegetablemacedoine to retailers in the EEA;
• An agreement covering private label sales of canned sweetcorn to retailers in the EEA; and
• An agreement covering both own brands and private label sales (sold under retailers' brands) of canned vegetables to retailers and to the food service industry specifically in France.

Coroos participated only in the first agreement while Bonduelle and Groupe CECAB participated in all three.

In the context of the same investigation, the Commission opened proceedings against a fourth company, Conserve Italia. Conserve Italia is not covered by this settlement decision and therefore the investigation will continue under the standard (non-settlement) cartel procedure for this company.

More information on this case will be available under the case number AT.40127 in the public case register on the Commission's competition website, once confidentiality issues have been dealt with. For more information on the Commission's action against cartels, see its cartels website.