The St, Valentine's Day candy cartel
Just in order to celebrate the biggest chocolate giving day of the year, the German Cartel office raided the office of seven major candy makers, accusing the companies of price-fixing and collusion. The raided firms include Kraft, Mars, Nestlé, and German candy bar maker Ritter.
German authorities are making the charges based on market analysis. According to a Wall Street Journal article ("Germany Alleges Candy-Price Fix, Raids Offices
", 2/12/08) 'The Cartel Office said it suspected that the companies had conspired with one another to raise their prices even higher than a recent increase in the price of raw materials, such as cocoa and nuts, would have demanded." The candy makers all deny any collusion.
This is not the first time the chocolatiers have been accused of colluding on the prices. According to the WSJ article, 'In November, regulators in Canada began an investigation into price-fixing allegations on the part of the Canadian divisions of Hershey Co., Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Mars and Nestlé." US authorities have also made inquiries about collusion in recent months.
9:11:32 PM 
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