Serious allegations against Brau Union: According to the Federal Competition Authority (BWB), Austria’s largest brewing company allegedly abused its dominant market position to limit the market access of competing beer producers and drive existing beverage retailers out of the market. An ‘appropriate penalty’ is required.
According to the BWB, the request to the cartel judge to impose a fine was preceded by extensive research that confirmed the suspicion of “a series of unacceptable conduct”. From October 2021, anonymous complaints about the Brau Union’s behavior increased, and in April 2022 a search took place at the headquarters in Linz. The cartel court can impose fines of up to ten percent of the group turnover of the previous year. According to the “WirtschaftsCompass”, Brau Union achieved a turnover of 850.6 million euros in 2022.
Customers were threatened with a delivery stop
In concrete terms, Brau Union allegedly exploited its dominant market position and threatened beverage buyers that they would no longer sell them beer if they did not also purchase other beverages from Brau Union. In addition, Brau Union would have obliged customers not to carry drinks from other competitors in their range or to purchase the majority of the range through Brau Union. There would also have been divisions over the market and customers, although some of these have already been eliminated. The BWB also accuses the group of exchanging competitively sensitive data to monitor the market and market access of competing companies.
Brau Union was able to increase its market share during the pandemic
In the past, Brau Union’s market power had been repeatedly criticized, especially from competing independent Austrian breweries such as Stiegl and Ottakringer. Due to the price war during the corona pandemic, Brau Union’s market share has increased further from approximately 50 percent. The Austrian market leader brings together the beer brands Gösser, Zipfer, Kaiser, Puntigamer, Schwechater, Wieselburger, Schladminger and Edelweiss.
The Brau Union was founded in 1998 through the merger of Österreichische Brau AG and Steirerbrau. Since 2003, the company with 2,700 employees, 15 beer brands and nine breweries has been part of Heineken, the second largest beer company in the world.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
