Pakistan’s Competition Commission fines poultry hatcheries for cartel
The collective fine is around USD 550,000.
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has imposed a collective fine of around USD 550,000 on eight major poultry hatcheries for cartel and price-fixing of broiler DOC.
According to the Nation, CCP took suo motu notice of cartelization in the DOC market and initiated a comprehensive inquiry.
The inquiry found that major hatcheries — including Sadiq Poultry, Hi-Tech Group, Islamabad Group, Olympia Group, Jadeed Group, Supreme Farms (Seasons Group), Big Bird Group, and Sabir’s Group — engaged in coordinated price-fixing, in violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010.
WhatsApp group
Based on CCP’s finding, the hatcheries formed a cartel and discussed prices in a WhatsApp group called “Chick Rate Announcement,” administered by a senior official of Big Bird Group.
- He coordinated the daily price updates. He sent the next day’s prices every day through phone texts or WhatsApp messages to the group members.
- Two officers of the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) were also part of the group.
- Group members actively discussed and shared next-day prices for approximately 198 times, in the years 2019 to 2021.
- The price-sensitive information was exchanged 108 times via text messages and 87 times through WhatsApp.
- Senior officials of the association present in the group never stop the sharing of price information, thereby facilitating the collusion.
Uniform rates
According to CCP, the cartel regularly announced uniform DOC rates for Punjab, and with minor freight adjustments, also influenced rates in Multan and Karachi.
Between March 2020 and April 2021, the price of DOC rose by 346%, from USD 0.064 to USD 0.28 per chick, contributing heavily to broiler meat price inflation.
