Brussels, 06/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 3 October, the European Commission approved the merger between the companies Chiquita Brands International (USA) and Fyffes (Ireland), subject to a number of conditions.
This operation brings together the two largest suppliers of fresh bananas in Europe, the Commission notes. However, its investigation led it to conclude that healthy competition would be preserved on the markets in question, due to the relatively low and falling overall share of the two players in imports of bananas to the main ports of northern Europe, competition from a growing number of other players and the very strong position of the supermarkets, which are developing their own banana brands.
However, the Commission laid down a number of conditions to prevent any risk that competitors may be locked out at transport level, an area in which its investigation revealed a considerable potential for access to transport services to be removed or limited for competitors. Fyffes must therefore release the haulage company Maersk from its exclusivity clause and, in future, the two companies must not agree any similar exclusivity provisions with transport companies or do anything to cause these companies to decline to provide their services to other banana businesses. The duration of this commitment is ten years. The Commission found no competition issues as regards the provision of banana ripening services or the purchase and supply of pineapples. (EL)