Seven British retailers believe they have suffered a total loss of $850 million, equivalent to 8.8 billion kroner. The reason is alleged price gouging by several Norwegian agricultural companies Interfish.
In January, it became known that the European Commission was accusing six Norwegian salmon companies of violating competition rules. Specifically, they must have cooperated in order to exacerbate competition in the market for spot sales of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon in the EU.
This applies to agricultural companies Cermaq, Grieg Seafood, Bremnes, Lerøy, Mowi and Salmar, all of which strongly disagree with the European Commission.
Together these retailers represent more than 44 per cent of the British grocery market, with chains such as Iceland Foods, Aldi and Marks & Spencer. They are estimated to have spent a total of NOK 22.6 billion on farmed Atlantic salmon during the alleged manipulation period, which the EU believes applied from 2011 to 2019.
If the European Commission rules against the salmon companies, the maximum fine will be 10 percent of the group's sales. The fine could therefore reach NOK 13 billion, according to Finansavisen's calculations.
Buyers who bought salmon at high prices, such as grocery store owners, will not receive any part of this fine. No date has been set for the final ruling in the case.
Last year, Mowi, Lerøy, Salmar, Cermaq and Greg agreed to pay nearly NOK 900 million to U.S. seafood buyers who alleged in a class action lawsuit that the Norwegian salmon giants conspired to fix salmon prices in the U.S. market, according to IntraFish.
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