Koipe facing censure for price fixing
price fixing after the country's competition authorities agreed
this week to investigate a claim made by the OCU consumer group.
Spanish olive oil processor Koipe, part of the Sos Cuetara group, is facing censure over alleged price fixing after the country's competition authorities agreed this week to investigate a claim made by the OCU consumer group.
OCU claimed last September that the olive oil company was acting anti-competitively by fixing the retail price of two of its oil brands, Carbonell and Koipesol, at €2.69 and €1.19 respectively.
The claims were made after the OCU carried out a survey of prices at 417 food retailers across Spain and found that just one outlet was selling the oils at a price lower than that allegedly fixed by Koipe.
The alleged price fixing is still going on, according to the OCU, which carried out two further surveys in October 2002 and April 2003.
The OCU explained that while, in principle, companies were free to set whatever price they wanted for goods, this was not the case when the product was sold via an intermediary.
Thus, Koipe was perfectly free to fix the price for its oils when it sold them to wholesalers, but that it was unable by law to oblige the retailers, who bought the oil from the wholesalers, to sell it at a fixed price in their stores. This, OCU explained, means that there was no competition between retail outlets.
Such price fixing at the retail level can only be carried out with the specific authorisation of the Servicio de Defensa de la Competencia, the OCU said. According to the consumer group, the competition authorities were not aware of Koipe's alleged attempts to fix the retail price of its oil, nor had they received any request from the company to do so.
"This type of practice can have a negative effect for consumers," said the OCU in a statement. "It removes any price competition between oil brands and between the various retail outlets, since the majority of them (some 70 per cent) are selling the products at exactly the same price."
The decision by the competition authorities to accept the claim was likely to lead to sanctions against Koipe, the OCU said.
