Berglandmilch accused of distorting market in Austria

Berglandmilch, Austria’s largest dairy with a turnover of €830 million and total processed milk of around 1,200 m kg in 2011, has been publically criticised by the Austrian milk industry’s representative organisation IG Milch not only for paying producers low prices for milk but also for failing to pass on any cost advantages to the retail market and in fact keeping prices deliberately high through agreements with wholesalers. The Wels-based dairy which has 12 sites throughout the country and produces 25 different cheese brands with nearly all of them exported (e.g. Moosbacher and Black Label Amadeus hard slicing cheeses) will have to pay the Austrian Monopolies Commission around €1.1 m in fines because of claimed agreements on price levels. Before the court action Austrian police had also raided a number of supermarket headquarters in Austria to find out more about possible illegal price fixing in the dairy sector.

Berglandmilch managing director Josef Braunshofer admitted that there seemed to have been what he termed “grey zones” in the pricing routine but claimed that these had already been discussed in detail with the authorities last year.