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On October 18, 2022, officials from the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) knocked on the doors of several Austrian pellet companies at the same time. They had a search warrant with them, approved by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Vienna. The competition watchdogs combed offices, confiscated documents and copied data. Their suspicion: Several companies in the industry are said to have made illegal agreements to set prices, divide up customers and thus control sales.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, two months before the house searches, an anonymous whistleblower called the authorities. The man, who works in the industry himself, recalled a conversation he had with a manager of the Tyrolean company two years ago. He is said to have told him that you don't set the prices yourself, but that they are set by the \"club\". The \"association\" meant Propellets Austria, the Austrian industry association.<\/p>\n
Numerous complaints<\/strong><\/p>\n The whistleblower's call fueled a suspicion that the competition authority had previously suspected. In the course of the past year, after the outbreak of the war, the prices for pellets exploded in line with oil and gas prices. Between August 2021 and August 2022, the increase was well over 100 percent. Numerous consumers complained to the BWB and the Chamber of Labor. Propellets had to justify itself publicly: The price increase was due to several reasons: a shortage of supply as a result of the Ukraine war, panic buying by customers and a rapid increase in new pellet heating systems.<\/p>\n But from the point of view of the BWB, the strong increase \"neither with the price development on the energy markets nor with cost increases\" could be explained, as the judgment shows. Imports from Russia and Ukraine, which ceased when war broke out, would not play a decisive role for the Austrian market. At the same time, there has not been an unusual increase in pellet exports abroad. Rather, it can be assumed that \"the price increases were caused by a coordinated withholding of wood pellets by the suppliers and thus by a market abuse on the supply side\". There is reasonable suspicion of a \"coordinated, supply-side abuse of market power\".<\/p>\n Propellets denies<\/strong><\/p>\n After the house searches, Propellets \"resolutely denied the suspicion of price fixing\". Even five months later, the managing director of the association, Christian Rakos, is \"deeply relaxed\" about the investigation. The authority's accusation cannot be true simply because the price differences between the different providers were \"never as high as last year,\" says Rakos to the Austrian daily STANDARD. In addition, the international comparison shows that pellet prices in Austria were significantly lower than in the neighboring countries of Germany, Switzerland and Italy. A price agreement should have had the opposite effect.<\/p>\n According to Rakos, the fact that prices still rose is due to the open European market. Although Austria was not dependent on imports from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, other EU countries were. Overall, the market had lost ten percent of its volume, and the consequences would have had an indirect impact on Austria. The industry representative is convinced that the anonymous caller's tip could be \"easily refuted\". Propellets regularly publishes price surveys. However, these are always only published three weeks after the respective survey. \"The caller to the authority must have referred to it,\" believes Rakos.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether the BWB sees it the same way. It will probably be several months before a result is reached \u2013 either a cessation or a possible antitrust fine. In any case, the authority would have to find clear evidence of collusion in order to be fined; pure market observations are not prohibited. The pellet prices have calmed down again in the meantime, the price trend is clearly pointing downwards.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On October 18, 2022, officials from the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) knocked on the doors of several Austrian pellet companies at the same time. They had a search warrant with them, approved by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in … Continue reading