LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alleged collusion and unlawful price-fixing between six of the world’s top salmon producers are detailed in a new collective action proceeding filed yesterday in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, which demands compensation for millions of consumers.
The collective action seeks as much as £382 million for UK consumers who overpaid for at least four years because of alleged breaches of competition law by the proposed defendants: Mowi and its subsidiary Mowi Holdings, SalMar, Lerøy, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg. The defendants are all prominently involved in the global farmed Atlantic salmon market, and are major suppliers of farmed Atlantic salmon to UK supermarkets, grocery stores and food manufacturers.
The six defendants worked together to increase the price of farmed Atlantic salmon through various methods, according to the claim. The defendants are accused of manipulating benchmark prices for Norwegian Atlantic salmon by using related entities to purchase salmon at inflated prices, and unlawfully exchanging commercially sensitive information about the price and volumes of sales of farmed Atlantic salmon. Senior executives at rival companies allegedly planned to rig prices via email correspondence, and at various meetings and “working dinners”. It is claimed that this was cartel behaviour and a breach of competition laws, which are designed to protect consumers.
According to the claim, this unlawful overcharging of consumers continued until 31 May 2019, shortly after the European Commission raided the offices of various Atlantic salmon farmers as part of a major investigation into price-fixing in February 2019. In January 2024, the Commission expressed its preliminary view that various Norwegian companies, including Mowi, SalMar, Lerøy and Grieg, colluded to fix short-term farmed Atlantic salmon prices in Europe between 2011 and 2019.
Some of the defendants have also already contributed to multimillion-dollar payments to settle class-action lawsuits bought on behalf of salmon consumers and other buyers in the US and in Canada.
The new legal action claims that the alleged cartel’s behaviour drove farmed Atlantic salmon prices up to 20% higher than they otherwise would have been over the course of the alleged conspiracy. The defendants charged higher prices to supermarkets and other retailers in the first instance; then the retailers passed on the majority of the price increases to consumers. The legal claim seek fair compensation on behalf of up to 44 million UK consumers.
The legal action has been filed on behalf of UK consumers by Waterside Class Limited, a company set up to bring this claim. Waterside’s sole director and representative is Anne Heal, a former Director of Regulatory Affairs at BT and Managing Director of Strategy at Openreach. Waterside has instructed law firm Simmons & Simmons and barristers Sarah Abram KC, Matthew Kennedy (both of Brick Court Chambers) and Camilla Cockerill (of 4 New Square Chambers) to represent it.
To find out more about the claim, and register for updates, please visit www.salmonclaim.co.uk.
Summary of the legal action against Mowi, SalMar, Lerøy, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg
The claim has been filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, a specialist UK judicial body. It alleges that the six defendants have breached competition law by forming a cartel and colluding to fix the price of farmed Atlantic salmon, using the NASDAQ Salmon Index, the global benchmark for salmon retail prices.
Mowi ASA, formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, is the largest farmed Atlantic salmon producer globally, being responsible for 21% of the total Norwegian Atlantic salmon production on average between 2015 to 2019 and 35% of total Scottish production during the same period. Mowi, Greig, Cermaq and SalMar are five of the largest Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon producers, and Mowi and Scottish Sea Farms are the two largest farmed Scottish Atlantic salmon producers.
It is alleged that the defendants worked together by creating artificial supply and purchase orders to drive up prices on the NASDAQ Salmon Index, regardless of actual levels of demand or production. The NASDAQ Salmon Index governs global farmed Atlantic salmon spot prices, which meant that most other farmed Atlantic salmon suppliers also sold their products at higher prices, even though they played no part in the alleged conspiracy. As a result, the claim asserts that grocery retailers in the UK were forced to overpay and passed a large part of these additional costs on to their customers.
The claim has been brought on behalf of UK consumers. It is alleged that consumers, not retailers, bore the majority of the expense of artificial price rises – based on evidence of actual retail price changes, and the demonstrable pricing power held by retailers to pass higher farmed Atlantic salmon prices on to their customers.
According to the claim, Mowi, SalMar, Lerøy, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg have breached the prohibition on cartel activity imposed by section 2 of the UK Competition Act 1998, as well as Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 53 of the European Economic Area Agreement. The European provisions are relevant because they were in force in the UK at the time of the alleged collusion, including as part of the agreed post-Brexit transitional arrangements between the EU and the UK.
This legal action is entirely separate from another claim brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in March 2024 against a similar group of defendants by a number of supermarkets in the UK. It differs from that claim because it identifies consumers, rather than retailers, as the principal victims of the cartel. Waterside, representing the consumer claimants, will argue that retailers passed on the majority of higher salmon prices to their customers, and therefore that much of the damage caused by alleged price-fixing has ultimately been suffered by consumers rather than retailers.
Further information for consumers
Any consumer who purchased farmed Atlantic salmon products (sold for the purpose of personal consumption) from a grocery retailer in the UK between 1 October 2015 and 31 May 2019 is an eligible member of the claimant class, as well as the personal or authorised representative of any person who meets this description and would be in the class but for their death.
Grocery retailers includes any retail setting, whether bricks-and-mortar stores or online sales channels, in the United Kingdom. This includes, for example, supermarkets, online supermarkets, convenience stores, fishmongers, and non-supermarket online outlets. It does not include catering or “foodservice” providers such as restaurants, cafés, pubs or other eateries, meaning that salmon consumed in restaurants is not covered as part of this legal action.
Farmed Atlantic salmon products means all products sold by grocery retailers containing 50% or more farmed Atlantic salmon. This generally includes both fresh and frozen whole salmons, fillets, sliced (including smoked) salmon, steaks and other cuts or portions of salmon, and tinned salmon. It generally excludes processed products which incorporate salmon (such as fishcakes, fish pies, sandwiches or ready meals), unless they contain 50% or more farmed Atlantic salmon.
The proceeding has been brought on an opt-out basis, meaning that all UK class members are included by default unless they decide to opt out. If the legal action is successful, most class members will not have to produce any documents to be compensated, and compensation will be divided equally among them.
Class members, on whose behalf the collective proceeding has been brought, will not pay any costs or fees to participate in this legal action. The proceeding is being funded by Erso Capital, an experienced litigation funder, and the action is insured. Class members will not be at risk of paying any fees or the defendants’ costs if the proceedings are ultimately unsuccessful.
About the proposed class representative
The proposed class representative, Waterside, is a company incorporated for the purpose of bringing this claim. Waterside’s sole director and representative, Anne Heal, was previously the Director of Regulatory Affairs at BT, where she led negotiations with Ofcom to secure the creation of Openreach.
She is a passionate advocate for consumers. She currently holds, or has held, a number of non-executive and lay roles which enable her to do that, including at the Office of Rail and Road, the General Dental Council and (previously) the Thames Water Customer Challenge Group. She also chairs the charity Volunteering Matters.
She has set up an Advisory Panel of experts to offer additional guidance and support during the proceedings. These experts are:
- Kate Wellington, former Lead Lawyer for Policy & Communications at the consumer champion group Which?
- Helen Charlton, the current Chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel
- Nicholas Spearing, an expert in competition law with more than 40 years of experience, and a former partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.
Statements
Anne Heal, on behalf of Waterside, the proposed class representative in the action, said:
“This action claims that some of the Atlantic salmon farming industry’s biggest companies have conspired to raid the wallets of hard-working shoppers. This action aims to seek fair redress for the millions of British consumers who we say spent years overpaying for one of the UK’s favourite and highly nutritious foods.
“By bringing this collective action, I want to give a voice to affected consumers across the UK, and see them properly compensated for their losses. I also want to bring attention to market practices which harm consumers, and hold the defendant companies to account for their alleged wrongdoing.”
Patrick Boylan, Head of Simmons and Simmons’ UK Dispute Resolution Group, who is leading the litigation, added:
“Competition laws are there to protect everyone. Thankfully, we have a fast-evolving collective proceedings regime to help vindicate consumers’ rights. We are looking forward to working with Waterside and Anne Heal to bring this claim against Mowi, SalMar, Lerøy, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg in respect of their alleged unlawful conduct.”