Norwegian salmon farmers' share prices take hit after price fixing allegations

The share prices of some of the top publicly traded salmon-farming companies in Norway dropped sharply after the European Commission informed them it was advancing an investigation into price fixing in the salmon spot market. The E.C. alleged that Mowi, Cermaq, Grieg, Bremnes, Lerøy, and SalMar all breached European Union antitrust rules and colluded to influence prices on the spot sales of Norwegian-farmed Atlantic salmon. The allegations stem from a multi-year effort by the E.U., starting with an investigation in February 2019. Soon after the new allegations, the shares of the publicly traded companies on the list – Mowi, Grieg, Lerøy, and SalMar – dropped sharply. Cermaq was publicly traded until it was acquired by the Mitsubishi Corporation in 2014, and Bremnes Seashore is a privately owned company. Shares of Mowi dropped sharply soon after the European Commission publicly announced it had informed the Norwegian salmon producers about its preliminary view that they had ...