Chocolate scandal in Canada
The court of Ottawa believes that the Canadian divisions of chocolate bars leading manufacturers Nestley Canada, Hershey Canada and Mars Canada have arranged price arrangement on chocolate sales.
Distribution Company ITWAL Ltd headed this arrangement. Such data has been distributed by the court of Ottawa, which is engaged in this business.
The bases to consider the company guilty have appeared after the Federal antimonopoly bureau of Canada has lead searches at offices and computer bases of manufacturers, suspected of arrangement. Found materials have confirmed that the companies carried on secret negotiations on an artificial establishment of the prices for chocolate production. The illegal practice has been initiated by ITWAL in February, 2002, and preceded till November, 2007.
The company doesn’t give any official comments, but some representatives of Nestle Canada and Hershey Canada have confirmed that manufacturers cooperate with investigation.
According to data of the Canadian Confectionery Products Manufacturers’ Association, inhabitants of Canada annually spend nearby 2,3 billion Canadian dollars (2,3 billion dollars) for chocolate production. Thus Nestley, Hershey, Mars, and Cadbury possess up to two thirds of chocolate market of the country.
