Yahoo Finance Cadbury owner fined €337m for restricting free movement of biscuits
The owner of Cadbury has been fined €337m (£287m) after it admitted restricting the movement of chocolate, coffee and biscuits within the EU to push up prices.
The EU antitrust watchdog said Mondelez, which also makes Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers among many other snacks, had struck anti-competitive agreements with distributors to “illegally restrict retailers from sourcing these products from member states where prices are lower”.
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said deals to carve up the EU market and stop sellers from trading across borders allowed Mondelez “to maintain higher prices” between 2015 and 2019.
In some cases, prices were as much as 40pc higher or lower in certain countries.
Ms Vestager said its practices had been “blatantly illegal”, adding: “We are determined to uphold fundamental freedoms in the European Union and to ensure that European citizens have access to the biggest variety at the lowest prices that the market can offer.”
Mondelez had initially been set a higher fine, but the EU said it had granted the company a 15pc reduction after the company “cooperated with the commission under the cooperation procedure and expressly acknowledged its liability for the infringement of EU competition rules”.
A spokesman for Mondelez said: “This historical matter is not representative of who we are and the strong culture of compliance for which we strive.”
Mondelez is one of the world’s largest food and drink companies. Its brands include Toblerone, Maynards Bassetts and the Philadelphia cream cheese brand.
The US company said the settlement related to isolated incidents, “most of which ceased or were remedied well in advance of the Commission’s investigation”, adding: “This accounts for a very limited part of Mondelez International’s European business.”
The fine comes at a delicate time for Mondelez, which has faced a shareholder backlash over its decision to keep operating in Russia.
Mondelez chief executive Dirk Van de Put previously claimed investors did not “morally care” about its business in Russia, despite the war in Ukraine.
However, Wespath Benefits & Investments, a US-based investor, has claimed Mondelez’s continued operations in Russia expose it to “material human rights risks”.
Mondelez has sought to counter criticism by pointing to its pledge of more than $15m (£12m) in support for Ukrainian citizens.
A Mondelez spokesman previously said the company had “robust human rights standards, policies, and practices currently in place – including grievance mechanisms, third-party human rights expert risk assessment, and transparent disclosures to shareholders”.
