Mexico: COFECE sanctions three individuals for meddling in tortilla market

Mexico’s competition regulator COFECE announced that Arturo Javier Solano Andalón and Morayma Preza Espinoza, entrepreneurs and leaders of the tortilla industry, have been found guilty of engaging absolute monopolistic practice in the production, distribution and commercialization of corn tortillas in the state of Jalisco.

Various media outlets in Guadalajara reported that Javier Solano, a tortilla entrepreneur and Chairman of the Steering Committee of United Groups of Industrialists of Dough and Tortilla, stated in February 2016 that the price of tortillas would go up. “We will have to reflect production costs on the price of the tortilla.”

Days later, the Secretary of Rural Development (SEDER) with the government of Jalisco, Hector Padilla, met with him and with Morayma Preza, President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Industrialists, where he backed the signing of an agreement to establish a range of between $9 to $14 pesos (US$0.50 to US$0.80)for the retail price of one Kg. of tortilla.

The Commission concluded that following this meeting there were increases in the price of the tortilla in the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara, directly affecting consumers who paid a surcharge of 22 cents per kilogram. Thus, the damage estimated rose to more than $52.6 million Mexican pesos (US$3 million approx). COFECE then imposed fines on the participants, totalling $395 thousand pesos (US$20 thousand).

Full Content: COFECE

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