China has issued fines to New Zealand diary giant Fonterra and other foreign dairy companies regarding a probe into price fixing and anti-competitive practices.
The China National Development and Reform Commission says it has issued record fines of 670 million yuan or 108 million US dollars on six dairy companies for engaging in price-fixing on the Chinese mainland.
The six dairy companies are Biostime, Mead Johnson, Dumex, Abbott, Friesland and Fonterra. Three companies including Wyeth, Beingmate and Meiji have been exempted from punishment because they cooperated with the investigation, provided important evidence and carried out active self-rectification.
Fonterra is now also embroiled in a separate milk powder contamination scare that has led to product recalls in China.