Pleading
poverty and having shut up shop in New Zealand, Elders Rural finalised a Commerce
Commission price-fixing investigation at minimum cost to itself. Elders is coughing up $200,000 towards
Commission costs and paying no fine. Two
years ago, rival PCG Wrightson was fined $2.7 million for joining with Elders to
fix prices when implementing a nationwide stock identification system.
PCG Wrightson took the
lead in implementing a tagging system imposed by government legislation to track
cattle and deer movements. Getting
agreement from other stock and station agents to a set a national tagging rate
per animal fell foul of the Commerce Act.
This amounted to price fixing. The
High Court was told Elders fell into line, charging the agreed tagging fee of
$25 per cattle beast and $10 per calf for untagged stock presented for sale at
Elder’s yards.
Following a 2015 court
hearing, PCG Wrightson was ordered to pay $2.7 million for price fixing. Smaller operator Rural Livestock was fined
$475,000.
Elders Rural Holdings
talked down its liability in negotiations with the Commerce Commission. Elders has been sold to Australian
interests. It says it is heavily
indebted with no significant assets and is no longer trading in New Zealand. The High Court approved settlement of the
price-fixing investigation: Elders Rural is declared to have acted in breach of
the Act and is required to pay $200,000 towards Commission’s costs.
Commerce
Commission v. Elders Rural – High Court (24.10.17)
17.142