Investigators from the UK’s Office of Fair Trading have reportedly raided some of the country’s biggest dairies as part of an investigation into alleged price-fixing.
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OFT officials raided business sites operated by Arla Foods, the Co-op and Express Dairies, reported the Sunday Telegraph.
The investigation is believed to be separate from the OFT’s inquiry into Scottish milk prices and the Competition Commission’s investigation into the proposed merger of Express and Arla.
“The OFT executed search warrants on July 3 at several business premises in northern England as part of an OFT Competition Act investigation into allegations of price-fixing and market sharing in the market for the supply of milk,” an OFT spokesman was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
“No assumption should be made at this stage that there has been any infringement of company law and we will not be in a position to decide that until we have all the facts,” the spokesman added.
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By GlobalDataNeil Davidson, chief executive of Express, confirmed its Liverpool dairy had been part of the OFT inquiry but denied any wrongdoing. “We do not collude with our competitors,” said Davidson. “We have no case to answer and we do not know where we fit into this investigation.”
The Co-op and Arla Foods both also issued denials, and all three companies said they were cooperating with the investigation, reported the Independent.
