News

The problems at Huhtamaki worsened when the Finnish manufacturer of packaging for retail items was slapped with a 15.5 million-euro fine by the European Commission for its role in a pricing cartel operating in France and northwestern Europe.

Fines totaling nearly 116 million euros were handed down to eight food retailers and two distributors. According to the Commission the companies agreed to fix the price of packaging made from polystyrene foam or polypropylene and to sell it to customers at the agreed price, in violation of EU competition regulations. The packaging is often used by food retailers and supermarkets as a base for the sale of foodstuffs such as cheese, meat, fish and baked goods.

The other companies are the French concerns Nespak and Vitembal, and the German companies Silver Plastics, Italy’s Coopbox, Magic Pack and Sirap-Gema. The two distributors were the Portuguese Ovarpack and the UK’s Propack.
A British company, Linpac, escaped the Commission fine, as it was the whistleblower that outed the cartel to the authorities.