The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has fined seven companies that grow, process and sell first year planting onions for banned cartel deals for destroying parts of already sown field with planting onions in 2009. According to the NMa these companies tried to get a higher price for the planting onions by making the supply smaller.
To agree on this destruction of planting onions and to ensure that the cartel participants stuck to the deal, competition sensitive information was leaked. It concerns Triumfus Onion Products Onion Sets B.V., TOP Cultures France s.a.r.l., M. Maas Kruiningen B.V., Steketee Yerseke B.V., A.C. Mosselman B.V., Handelmaatschappij Kesselaar B.V., Agpro Onions B.V. and Rijk Onion Sets B.V. Together these business are worth around 80 percent of the supply of first year planting onions grown for Dutch businesses. In total they will be fined over four million Euro.
First year planting onions are used as planting material for second year planting onions that are suitable for consumption. Of the total turnover of the companies concerned, 60 percent is made within the EU. The size of the fine is based on this European turnover. In Holland around fifty thousand tonnes of planting onions is produced every year. The cartel was brought to attention by anonymous tips at the information and tip line 0800 - 0231 885.
In response Marien Maas of Maas Kruiningen announces they will definitely appeal against the fine. "This fine is so unbelievably absurd and is typical of how the civil service in Holland has gone completely mad. The fines are in no way in proportion with the profits made. I'd like to leave it at that."
Gijsbrecht Gunter, president of the Onion Trade Committee at Frugi Venta, says in a response that it is difficult to respond to the fines' contents. "It is up to the traders concerned, in the first place." He does emphasize that the fines imposed are only for a sub-sector of the onion market, the planting onion sector, and not the consumption onions. "There are now various notices in the media, in which this is not specified, but it would be terrible if our huge export of consumption onions were to suffer due to this."