December 23 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said it has imposed a 1.7 million levs ($984,100/869,200 euro) fine on local food products maker and distributor over unfair competition practices.
CPC found that Milky Group Bio is in breach of loyal commercial practices as in 2021 it distributed butter under the German brand "Deutsche Markenbutter", Mildgesauerte Butter but in fact the product, sold in packaging manufactured by the company itself, was different from the Mildgesauerte Butter type, the competition authority said in a statement.
Furthermore, the wholesale price at which the company bought the butter was lower than the price of the product when it is delivered in the original packaging.
The anti-trust body said that these actions of Milky Group Bio directly harm and respectively create opportunities for damaging the interests of the applicant Rostar BG and other competitors on the relevant market.
According to information published on its LinkedIn profile, Sofia-based Milky Group Bio is focused on the import of raw materials for the food industry, such as dairy products, cocoa products, animal and vegetable fats, ingredients and additives, and others. Milky Group Bio also manufactures products under the own brands of the largest supermarket chains in Bulgaria such as Kaufland, Billa, Metro and T-Market as well as dairy products under its own line Sayana.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)