Dutch firm may be implicated in European shrimp cartel

Friday 13 July 2012

The European Commission is investigating a possible cartel in the trade of North Sea shrimp which has affected Dutch, German, French and Belgian consumers, the organisation said in a statement on Friday.

The Commission said it had written to four shrimp traders stating they 'may have infringed EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels,' but did not name the companies involved.

A number of shrimp suppliers were raided in 2009 in connection with the investigation.

A spokesman for Groningen-based Heiploeg, which claims to be the biggest European shrimp trader, was visited by inspectors during the 2009 raids. However, the company has not yet had a letter from Brussels about the investigation, a spokeswoman told news agency ANP on Friday afternoon.

Competitor Klaas Puul from Volendam declined to comment, ANP said.

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