Johannesburg - Pioneer Fishing has been fined R717 960.92 for reaching an agreement with a competitor that allowed the firm to sell horse mackerel in the local market and prohibited it from selling the fish in the export market.
The company, in terms of its settlement agreement with the commission, admitted that a sale agreement it had entered into with Blue Continent Products (BCP) was in contravention of the Competition Act, in that it constituted an agreement between parties in a horizontal relationship to divide markets by allocating territories and/or customers.
The Competition Tribunal this week confirmed the settlement agreement reached between Pioneer Fishing and the commission in terms of which it would, among other things, pay such a fine.
The fine represented 5 percent of Pioneer’s total annual turnover in South Africa and its exports. The conduct commenced in August 2008 and continued until December 2010.
Magdaleen van Wyk, representing the commission, told a tribunal hearing that the commission received a leniency application from BCP in 2011 following its industry-wide investigation into pelagic fishing. The investigation revealed that BCP and Pioneer Fishing entered into an agreement in August 2008 in terms of which BCP would catch the horse mackerel allocation for 2008 for Saco Fishing, an indirect subsidiary of Pioneer Fishing, on behalf of Pioneer Fishing.
Pioneer Fishing undertook in terms of this agreement to pay BCP a catching fee, but in September 2008 the companies concluded a further agreement setting out the basis upon which BCP would buy the horse mackerel.
Agreement
This agreement also confirmed the appointment of BCP to catch the horse mackerel allocation of Saco Fishing for the 2009 and 2010 seasons and BCP’s ownership of the fish caught in terms of this agreement.
However, provision was made for BCP to make up to 20 percent of the catch available for sale to Pioneer Fishing on an agreed basis.
Pioneer Fishing and BCP concluded a further agreement for 2009 and 2010 in terms of which BCP agreed to buy the whole of the horse mackerel catch, but make 20 percent of each catch available to Pioneer Fishing for sale in the local market.
It was alleged by BCP that during the course of negotiating the agreements, it had entered into an oral agreement with Pioneer Fishing not to sell the 20 percent catch reserved for it into the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces where BCP or its Namibian subsidiary were selling its horse mackerel. But Pioneer Fishing did not admit to the oral agreement.
BUSINESS REPORT