It wasn’t a great vintage for most winemakers in Hungary, but for a few, 2007 may leave even more of a nasty hangover, thanks to an inquest by the competition authority into price fixing, reports news portal Origo’s business column Vállalkozói Negyed. Although none of our economics textbooks talk about buyers fixing prices, competition watchdog GVH has started proceedings against several Bács-Kiskun County winemakers on suspicion of making secret arrangements during the procurement of raw materials. “Based on available data, it can be assumed that as a result of making arrangements on the prices, the procurement prices used previously to the arrangement were reduced,” the GVH wrote on October 20.
The proceedings were started after the GVH held surprise inspections at Domro Borgazdaság Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Kft., Közép-Magyarországi Pincegazdaság Kft., Kravchenko Mezőgazdasági Termelő és Kereskedelmi Bt., Kecel-Borker Kft. , Palásti-borászat Borászati Kft., Szőlészeti és Borászati Kft. and Weinhaus Borászati, Termelő, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Kft. on October 17. The aim of the proceedings is to clarify facts and prove that market principles were breached.
Kecel-Borker Kft. CEO István Áman said that the charges were “nonsense,” claiming that grape prices had been fluctuating throughout the purchase period and were actually rising rather than dropping. He also said that he did not even know the names of leaders of some of the companies charged with being involved in the cartel.
