A “cartel” of the biggest French yogurt companies has been fined a total of Eu193 million (£136 million) for price-fixing over the past six years. The companies involved include Novandie, Lait, Senagral, Les Maitres Laitiers du Cotentin, Yeo Frais, Laiterie H Triballat and Alsace Lait. However, Danone, the world’s biggest yogurt maker was not involved in the scam.
The French authorities were first informed by Yoplait, which didn’t receive any fines in the probe as a result of blowing the whistle on the price fixing.
The biggest fine of Eu56.1 million went to Lactalis Nestle, whilst Laiterie de Saint Malo incurred a Eu300,000 fine and Senagral were fined Eu101.3 million however this was later reduced to Eu46 million thanks to its co-operation in the investigation.
Over six years, from 2006 to 2012, the 11 companies were reported to have met in hotels and a Parisian café called Au Chien qui Fume (The Smoking Dog) and they communicated via mobile phones that weren’t officially assigned to their users.
