KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has imposed nearly RM415.5 million in penalties against five poultry feed manufacturers for infringing Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 (Act 712) by forming a price-fixing cartel for poultry feed.
In a statement today, it said the companies include Leong Hup Feedmill (M) Sdn Bhd, FFM Berhad, Gold Coin Feedmills (M) Sdn Bhd, Dindings Poultry Development Centre Sdn Bhd, and PK Agro-Industrial Products (M) Sdn Bhd.
“Investigation by MyCC between January 2020 and March 2022 unravelled the distortion in the poultry feed market with multiple evidence in the form of price announcements, pricing patterns, and communication among the enterprises,” said MyCC.
Its investigation uncovered evidence of identical increments in poultry feed prices among the parties from January 2020 to June 2022, in addition to finding the five enterprises had employed a calculated strategy to create the illusion of rising poultry feed costs due to hikes in raw material costs.
WhatsApp chats and call logs recovered during the investigation correlated significantly with the dates of the price announcements, which strengthened the case for a connection between communication practices and pricing decisions.
FFM was fined RM42.69 million, Gold Coin was fined RM97.51 million, Leong Hup was fined RM157.47 million, PK Agro was fined RM47.8 million, and Dindings was fined RM70.02 million.
In addition to the penalties, MyCC also issued a cease-and-desist order to the enterprises to cease their participation in the poultry feed cartel and submit a monthly report on the fluctuations of poultry feed prices.
FFM, Gold Coin, and Dindings must review and enhance their competition law compliance training programmes and enrol their employees and board members in the same.
PK Agro and Leong Hup are required to implement competition law compliance programmes by enrolling employees and board members in the same.
“The enterprises must also include a provision in their respective Codes of Conduct to recognise the involvement in Competition Law infringements as misconduct. Cartels are a supreme evil in competition law and a form of economic sabotage at the highest level, more so in a public interest case
“We will continue to monitor the poultry industry without fear or favour to eradicate cartels, particularly after the government’s recent decision to discontinue subsidies and price control on chicken. We hope the lesson learned from this case will be a deterrent to all, in particular cartels-to-be,” said MyCC chief executive officer Iskandar Ismail.
— Bernama
