EU says Norwegian salmon producers might have distorted competition (updated)
25/01/2024 12:48
(Adds company responses and share price reaction)
Jan 25 (Reuters) - The European Commission has informed
six Norwegian salmon producers of its suspicion that they
breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition for spot
sales of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon in the EU, it said on
Thursday.
The Commission said it was concerned that Cermaq, Grieg
Seafood GSFG.OL , Bremnes, Leroy LSG.OL , Mowi MOWI.OL and
SalMar SALM.OL had exchanged commercially sensitive
information about prices and volumes between 2011 and 2019 to
reduce market uncertainty.
Mowi, SalMar, Leroy and Grieg Seafood issued statements
contesting the Commission's preliminary findings, maintaining
their commitment to competition laws and expressing their
intention to cooperate with the investigation.
Cermaq said it explicitly disagreed with the Commission's
preliminary findings but will refrain from further comment until
watchdog's final decision.
A Bremnes representative was not immediately available for
comment.
Shares in Mowi, SalMar, Leroy and Grieg Seafood fell 4.9%,
1.9%, 5.7% and 7.1% respectively after the Commission
announcement.
Antitrust regulators raided salmon farms in several European
Union countries in February 2019, including some owned by Mowi,
on suspicions of involvement in a cartel.
The Commission did not name the companies at the time. But
Mowi, the world's biggest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon,
said that EU regulators had raided two of its businesses, in
Scotland and the Netherlands.
Norway accounts for more than half of the farmed Atlantic
salmon worldwide and the EU is its main importer.
The alleged conduct concerns sales of fresh, whole and
gutted Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway. It does not concern
frozen farmed Atlantic salmon or processed products such as
salmon fillets, loins or smoked salmon, the commission said.
The statement of objections sent to the companies does not
prejudge the outcome of an investigation, it added.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer
additional reporting by Jesus Calero
Editing by David Goodman
)
((Bart.Meijer@thomsonreuters.com;))