Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s biggest dairy exporter, will cut prices for its maternal health products in China, becoming the sixth foreign company to do so after the government started a probe into possible price-fixing.
The Auckland, New Zealand-based company will reduce prices for its Anmum-branded products by 9 percent in China next month, it said in an e-mailed press statement.
The move is meant to ensure Fonterra’s products remain competitive after several rivals announced price reductions, Maree Wilson, a spokesperson at Fonterra, said in a separate e-mail response to questions.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Nestle SA (NESN), Danone SA (BN), Royal FrieslandCampina NV and Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. lowered prices after the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, began an investigation into their pricing of milk powder.
The NDRC has proof the companies sold products at high prices in China and their pricing increased about 30 percent since 2008, the same year melamine-tainted baby formula killed six infants, the official People’s Daily has reported.
Fonterra on July 4 said it had been contacted by NDRC regarding a current broad-ranging investigation of consumer dairy products in China.
Source: Bloomberg
