Germany’s Federal Cartel Office German (Bundeskartellamt) announced in its communique that it has imposed fines on alcohol brewers totaling more than €106 Million.
The national competition regulator enforced penalties from five companies such as Bitburger, Krombacher, Veltins, Warsteiner, and Barre. Besides, seven high-ranking top managers had to pay fines as the regulator believes they were personally involved in price fixing schemes.
Meanwhile, six more brewers are being under investigation. However, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest brewery company in the world, was able to avoid the punishment since the company reported the collusion and filed an application for leniency.
Andreas Mundt, the President of the Bundeskartellamt, said in a press release that price-fixing agreements were settled purely on personal and telephone contacts. The law-breakers agreed on the price increases of five to seven euros per hectoliters for draught beer in 2006 and 2008. In 2008, the crime partners stroke a bargain to make a price of 20 bottle crates one euro higher.
Germany is the leading beer producer in the E.U. More than 1,300 breweries operate in the country. There are over 5,000 brands of German beer. At the same time, the beer consumption in Germany has been declining steadily since 1980s. According to the Federal statistics agency, 96.5 million hectoliters of beer were sold in Germany in 2012, whereas beer sales equaled 107.8 hectoliters in 2011.
