Competition record
Pfeifer & Langen
Deep profile · 1 linked library matter
Pfeifer & Langen is a German sugar company that processes sugar beet for food manufacturers. The European Commission fined it with Südzucker and Nordzucker in the sugar-beet cartel.
Overview
Pfeifer & Langen is its own German sugar producer, not a division of Südzucker or Nordzucker. It processes sugar beet and sells sugar to food manufacturers. Those buyers care about the contract price for bulk sugar that will go into confectionery, drinks, and other factory recipes.
The Commission fined all three producers for a cartel in that beet-sugar industry. A smaller or family-identified producer can still be a full participant when the market has only a handful of processors. The illegal step is coordinating with the other two instead of competing for the factory contract.
Status is fined. No penalty figure is stated for Pfeifer & Langen or for the case. The profile stays with the company as a beet processor and with the customers who buy industrial sugar.
Competition footprint
Industrial sugar contracts, not the retail shelf, are where these processors meet their customers.
Pfeifer & Langen is a separate undertaking from the other two German producers in the decision.
Beet processing ties the business to regional agriculture and to a small set of refining companies.
Consumer & business angle
A food factory that used Pfeifer & Langen as its alternative to Südzucker lost that alternative if the processors had divided the customers.
The brand on a grocery product rarely names the sugar processor, so the cartel is invisible at the checkout.
What to watch
- Buyer claims that name Pfeifer & Langen alongside the two larger German processors.
- Independent bidding for industrial sugar supply in the regions this company serves.
Markets
sugar beet processing · industrial sugar
Also known as: pfeifer and langen, pfeifer langen