Coffee cartel

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A price agreement made between the companies Tchibo , Melitta , Alois Dallmayr Kaffee and Kraft Foods (Jacobs Kaffee) from 2000 onwards was referred to as a coffee cartel . The illegal agreement remained undiscovered until a company search was initiated by the Federal Cartel Office in July 2008.

The authority was able to prove the cartel-like behavior on the basis of the documents seized and ordered the companies to be fined a total of 159.5 million euros.

Kraft Foods used the so-called bonus scheme and did not have to pay a fine because the company filed a voluntary report with the Federal Cartel Office . Melitta also did not want to pay a fine because the company had worked with the antitrust authorities.

On December 26, 2009, Spiegel Online reported further suspected cases in the proceedings.

In June 2010 the German Coffee Association Hamburg was accused by the Federal Cartel Office of having promoted a cartel of coffee companies with a press release in February 2005, which is why a fine of up to 90,000 euros was imposed. The coffee roasters involved included Kraft Foods Ausser Haus Service (Bremen), Tchibo (Hamburg), Luigi Lavazza Germany (Frankfurt), Seeberger , Segafredo Zanetti Germany (Munich), Gebr. Westhoff (Bremen) and JJ Darboven (Hamburg) also Melitta System Service . The latter two companies received reduced fines because of their cooperation in investigating the allegations.

In October 2011 a new cartel formation was found. In addition to Melitta, it consisted of the coffee manufacturer Krüger and Kraft Foods Germany. The latter two companies were fined nine million euros. At the turn of the year 2007/2008, the cartel agreed to a price increase for instant cappuccino, which amounted to 20 to 40 cents per pack. Since the fine proceedings were initiated at the request of Melitta Kaffee GmbH , which thus acted as key witness, no fine was issued against this company.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bundeskartellamt imposes fines on coffee roasters. Bundeskartellamt , December 21, 2009, accessed on March 6, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Moritz Honert, Heike Jahberg: Coffee cartel has to pay a fine of millions. In: Der Tagesspiegel . December 22, 2009, accessed March 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Birger Nicolai: Large fines against German coffee roasters. In: The world . December 21, 2009, accessed March 6, 2019 .
  4. ↑ "Kraft Foods" gave investigation clues. In: Rheinische Post . January 13, 2009, archived from the original on January 12, 2010 ; accessed on March 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ New investigation against the coffee cartel. In: Spiegel Online . December 26, 2009, accessed March 6, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Again fines against coffee roasters. In: Main-Echo . June 10, 2010, accessed March 6, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Coffee manufacturers have agreed their prices. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . October 18, 2011, archived from the original on October 20, 2011 ; accessed on March 6, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Fine for cappuccino cartel. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . October 19, 2011, accessed March 6, 2019 .