The Turkish Competition Authority has announced the opening of an investigation against the Italian Ferrero to determine if it was guilty of abuse of a dominant position in the Turkish market, where it buys most of its Hazelnuts.
“The Competition Council judged the conclusions [de l’enquête préliminaire] serious (…) and decided to open an investigation,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Autorité specifies that it will seek to determine whether the Ferrero group and its subsidiaries “have violated the law on the defense of competition (…) in the hazelnut market at all levels, from production to purchase and peeling for the export”.
“We cannot leave hazelnuts at the mercy of a few speculators”
Hazelnut producers in Turkey, the world’s largest exporter, regularly denounce the absolute control of their crops by the Italian Ferrero, accused of lowering prices.
Ferrero is famous for its Nutella cream and its Ferrero Rocher.
The mayor of the Turkish city of Ordu (northeast), capital of the province of the same name on the shores of the Black Sea, which is one of the main hazelnut-producing areas in the country, announced that he had initiated legal proceedings in September against the Italian giant.
“We cannot leave hazelnuts at the mercy of a few speculators,” denounces the councilor, Hilmi Güler, in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.
Contacted on Wednesday, Ferrero did not immediately respond.
The Italian group, which seeks to diversify its offer, told AFP last year “to respect the laws of the market [turc] and its dynamics”, recalling its presence in Turkey for more than 35 years.
According to the FAO, the United Nations Fund for Agriculture, Turkey produces more than two thirds of the world production of hazelnuts.
Source: BFM TV
