98 million Turkish lira fine for egg producers

The Competition Board imposed a total administrative fine of 98 million Turkish lira on 26 egg producers, who were found to have committed a competition violation in the form of a “cartel” by fixing common prices and sharing sales areas, as 13 egg producer associations. and 12 egg producers, who determined the price of eggs and restricted the supply of eggs.

In May 2022, the Competition Board launched two investigations into the egg industry, alleging price fixing, region sharing, and supply quantity restriction. In the first investigation, allegations against a total of 34 egg producers were thoroughly examined, and in the second, allegations against 13 egg producers’ associations and 12 egg producers.

In the first investigation carried out against egg producers, 14 companies that were part of the investigation requested conciliation. As a result of the conciliation processes carried out, the investigation for the companies that accepted the existence and scope of the violation was completed with board resolutions containing the detection of violation and administrative fine. The investigations ended with the decisions adopted by the Competition Board on October 26, 2023.

‘THE BIGGEST VIOLATION IS A POSTER’

In the statement about the decision the following statements were made:

“In the first investigation carried out on egg-producing companies, it was determined that a total of 26 companies jointly determined the prices of eggs and shared the regions where they marketed the eggs, and it was evaluated that these behaviors had the character of a ‘cartel’, what is described as the most serious breach of competition law.

In the second investigation, it was determined that the egg producer associations involved in the investigation set the price of eggs and restricted the quantity of egg supply. These behaviors of the companies and associations of companies that are parties to the investigation are within the scope of article 4 of the Competition Law, which prohibits agreements that restrict competition between companies and decisions and actions of associations of companies that restrict competition. competence. “For this reason, as a result of the aforementioned investigations, a total administrative fine of approximately 98 million TL was imposed on the parties who had violated Article 4 of the Competition Law.” (DHA)