Salmon producers to contest cartel charges at Sept 15-18 hearing
Adds SalMar, Grieg Seafood comment in paragraphs 8-9
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Sept 13 (Reuters) -Grieg Seafood, SalMar and other Norwegian salmon producers will challenge EU charges of taking part in a cartel and fixing prices at a hearing in Brussels next week, the companies and three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The closed-door hearing in front of senior antitrust officials from the European Commission and national watchdogs and possibly third parties comes eight months after the companies were hit with a statement of objections or charge sheet under antitrust legislation.
The EU executive, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, declined to comment.
In its charge sheet, it said Mowi MOWI.OL, Mitsubishi Corp's 8058.T Cermaq, Grieg Seafood GSFG.OL, Bremnes, Leroy LSG.OL, and SalMar SALM.OL exchanged commercially sensitive information such as sales prices and production volumes between 2011 and 2019.
It said this only related to sales on the spot market of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon into the EU and not sales based on long-term contracts.
The alleged conduct concerns sales of fresh, whole and gutted Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway, which accounts for nearly 80% of all farmed Atlantic salmon exported from Norway. The companies were raided by the EU watchdog in 2019.
Norway accounts for over half of the production of farmed Atlantic salmon worldwide and the EU is its main importer.
Salmar said it strongly disagreed with the Commission's preliminary assessment and would present its views on this at the hearing.
Grieg Seafood confirmed it would attend the hearing and denied any antitrust infringements or anti-competitive behaviour by it or its subsidiaries.
Mowi declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment. They all risk fines as much as 10% of their global turnover for breaching EU antitrust rules.
The six companies agreed to pay $85 million to resolve antitrust claims from salmon purchasers in 2022. Earlier this year, a group of UK retailers said they planned to seek damages.
The U.S. Department of Justice closed its investigation in 2023 after sending subpoenas to Mowi, SalMar, Leroy, and Grieg in 2019, the companies have said.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Jonathan Oatis
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
