The Antitrust Authority has begun collecting data on the dairy market, including animal feed, farmers, dairy producers, and trade agreements between the producers and retailers. The collection of data began in the wake of the cottage cheese boycott, and is still only preliminary. Antitrust Authority director general David Gilo has not opened an official inquiry into the market.
The data collection is one of the Kedmi committee recommendations for reviewing the dairy market. It also recommends amending the Antitrust Law to abolish the restraint of trade exemption for marketers of agricultural produce. A third recommendation calls for an examination of the animal feed market because it affects the dairy market.
By law, the Antitrust Authority can demand any information it wants to help it apply the law and prevent harm to competition, including data on profit margins, and product costs. The data collection enables it to make an economic analysis of the market, including margins and companies with the power to restrain competition.
The Antitrust Authority declined to comment the final objectives of its review, but Gilo recently said, "The dairy market could be a candidate for being declared a cartel. This is a market of three firms and many entry barriers, but we need to thoroughly analyze it to see whether its conditions justify it being declared a cartel."
The Knesset has not yet completed legislation to allow the Antitrust Authority to declare cartels.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 18, 2011
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