The department ordered ten retailers to reduce the price of buckwheat and eggs

The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Tatarstan found republican food retailers guilty of price fixing. The agency concluded that grocery chains set the same inflated prices for buckwheat and eggs. Now they will have to reduce prices to “economically justified”, and also pay a fine of up to 15% of turnover for each product. Meanwhile, experts believe that sellers have a great chance to challenge this decision in court.

Yesterday, the office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Tatarstan made decisions on three cases at once initiated by the supervisory authority in relation to grocery chains in Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny. 10 Tatarstan grocery chains were found guilty of price fixing: PiK Trading Company LLC (Narodny chain of stores), Bakhetle-1 LLC, Optovik LLC (Essen chain of stores), Tander CJSC (chain of Magnit stores), CJSC Trading House "Perekrestok" (belongs to the X5 Retail Group group of companies), LLC Trading House "Camilla" (chain of stores "Camilla"), LLC Trading House "Chelny-Khleb" (chain "Chelny-Khleb"), LLC “Gorlyukha” (Gorlyukha stores), LLC Trade House “Duslyk” (Duslyk stores), CJSC “Edelweiss Trading Company” (Edelweiss chain).

According to the OFAS, grocery chains have simultaneously increased markups on buckwheat and eggs by 2-2.5 times since August 2010. Buckwheat has risen in price from 30-35 rubles. up to 70-75 rub. per kg, chicken eggs - from 15-20 rubles. up to 37-45 rub. for ten. The markup of grocery chains on both types of products increased from approximately 5 to 12-15 rubles, said Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Ivan Shcherbakov.

Now, according to the instructions of the supervisory authority, retail chains are required to reduce markups to “economically justified”. In addition, the chains face an administrative fine in the amount of 1 to 15% of the turnover from the sale of this product for the entire 2010.

Representatives of retail chains declined to comment yesterday. At the meeting, a representative of Edelweiss (the chain was found guilty of collusion on prices for chicken eggs) told Kommersant that “of course, there was no collusion - it was the suppliers who raised our prices.” “We will be ready to comment on the decision and order of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Tatarstan only after we receive these documents in our hands,” X5 Retail Group told Kommersant. Representatives of Bakhetle also declined to comment officially. Yesterday they did not say whether they would appeal the decision in court.

“Of course, they do not agree with the decision,” commented Ivan Shcherbakov. “Grocery chains believe that markups are their business, their trade secret. Apparently, they will appeal the decision in court.” For this reason, he said, the final results of this trial should be expected “no earlier than six months later.”

According to Sergei Lykov, an expert at the Regional Development Agency, losses from compliance with the FAS order may be significant for small retailers. “Chicken eggs occupy about 1.5%, and buckwheat – no more than 0.015% of the turnover of grocery chains. If, for example, Thunder’s annual turnover is 80 billion rubles, then the maximum fine of 15% of turnover for eggs will be 180 million rubles, for buckwheat - 1.8 million rubles,” he calculated. He doesn't agree that the retailers agreed on the price. “Equalizing prices at the level of competitors is not a conspiracy, but the normal work of marketers, which also works to reduce prices,” he explained.

According to the leading legal adviser of the Unex agency Ruslan Safin, retailers have a great chance of challenging the decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in court. A similar case was considered in St. Petersburg, where last year milk producers were able to challenge in court the FAS charges of price fixing on milk. “Courts often overturn decisions of antimonopoly authorities, citing insufficient justification for the violation,” he told Kommersant. “The antimonopoly authority often cannot document the existence of actual collusion between networks.” “The networks have a chance to appeal the FAS decision in court, and they must be used,” Anzhelika Ulanova, a lawyer at the Consul group of law firms, agreed with him. In her opinion, grocery chains need to justify the failure of the antimonopoly authority to prove all elements of the offense, and also appeal to economic reasons for rising prices, such as “changes in market conditions, decreased demand, low yields.”

Elena Ivanova

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