Five German breweries were fined a total of 106,5 million euros for price fixing, the government's antimonopoly agency in Berlin announced today.
Breweries Bitburger, Krombacher, Feltins, Warsteiner and private brewery Bare were fined.
The president of the antimonopoly agency, Andreas Mundt, stated that five breweries, or seven of their board presidents, participated in illegal price fixing of bottled and draft beer from 2006 to 2008, mostly in meetings or telephone conversations.
It was agreed to raise the price of draft beer by five to seven euros per 100 liters, as well as the increase in the price of a crate of 20 bottles by one euro.
Two other large breweries, as well as four smaller regional breweries from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are under investigation.
The investigation was launched following a complaint by brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, which avoided punishment for disclosing details of price-fixing to authorities.
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