German coffee roasters and price rigging

The German Cartel Office has, again, fined a few of the biggest German coffee roasters to a total of 30,000,000 Euros because of price rigging. Among the fined are

• Tchibo
• J.J. Darboven
• Melitta
• Kraft Foods
• Seeberger
• Westhoff
• Lavazza, Germany
• Segafredo Zanetti, Germany

The roaster Dallmayr went without fine because of self-denunciation.

Source: Financial Times Deutschland

…rather gives the term “Frühstückskartell” (“breakfast cartel”, literally) a second meaning.

Background: Firms that agree with each other, either formally or informally, to sell goods to a certain price, consequently undermining the free market are guilty of “price rigging”, an illegal operation in Germany.