Pick slapped with fine for price-fixing

Competition

Hungarian meat processing company Pick Szeged was fined HUF 44 million by the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), on charges of influencing the pricing of its products among wholesalers and retailers, Hungarian news agency MTI reported today.

According to the authority, the company pressured sellers to set a fixed minimum price for its products as part of its marketing strategy to enhance the image of its products compared to those of its competitors, MTI reported. The GVH said retailers and wholesalers were also interested in ensuring there would be no competitors undercutting their prices to customers, the news agency added.

The authority noted that price fixing is a serious breach of regulations. The authority considered Pickʼs position as a market leader an aggravating factor, although it also accepted as a mitigating factor that Pick had fully admitted to breaching the rules.

SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL

Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.

Support the BBJ

Startups