Adds comment from Quatra in paragraphs 9 and 10
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has slapped nearly €4mn of fines on Dutch used cooking oil (UCO) collectors Nieuwcom and the former Rotie for price fixing.
ACM ruled that the companies colluded by sharing supplier and competitively sensitive information to suppress UCO purchase prices between 2012-18.
Email and WhatsApp chains showed the collectors split providers between themselves and exchanged price information, even confronting each other when one of them had visited "their" supplier and offered too high an amount for the UCO.
The cartel was deemed particularly damaging to local small hospitality businesses such as restaurants and snack bars that provide the high-value biodiesel feedstock, following a tip-off from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.
"Businesses cannot make secret arrangements about their selling prices nor about their purchase prices. Buyer cartels harm competition and disadvantage suppliers. Such cartels result in suppliers receiving a lower price for their products," said Martijn Snoep, chairman of the Board of ACM.
The former Rotie was additionally linked with "making arrangements" with another unnamed company that went bankrupt before ACM began proceedings in this case.
Three individuals who exercised de-facto leadership over the cartel during the time in question were also handed a total of €190,000 in fines, though they and the companies were shown some leniency for co-operating in the investigation.
Rotie was part of the Simadan Group before being taken over by Dutch investment firm Parcom Capital in 2018 and then merging with Belgium-headquartered UCO collector Quatra Group the following year. Its trading arm Rotie UCO Trade was purchased by Austrian biodiesel producer Munzer last year though the Netherlands and German collection businesses remained under Quatra.
Quatra said they were taken by surprise when the ACM began its investigation on 20 January 2020 having just acquired Rotie the previous year, and deeply regretted the state of affairs.
"From the start of its activities in the Netherlands in July 2019, Quatra and its new management have worked hard to acquire, and where possible expand, a position in the market. The Dutch market is highly competitive, not only in terms of competitive pricing, but also due to the high degree of innovation in collection systems and logistics. As a newcomer to the market, we will do everything we can to maintain this competitive environment," the company said.
This is not the first controversy to rock the Dutch UCO-based bidiesel market, as local producer Kampen was forced to declare bankruptcy and its owner sentenced to a 30-month jail term in 2019 for forgery and money laundering between 2012-16.
