13 poultry firms slapped with 3.7 billion Turkish Liras in fines

ANKARA

Türkiye’s Competition Authority has imposed fines totaling 3.7 billion Turkish Liras ($89.2 million) on 13 companies operating in the poultry sector following the conclusion of a wide-ranging investigation.

According to a statement published on the authority’s website, an investigation was initiated into a total of 14 companies in the white meat sector to determine whether they had breached the Law on the Protection of Competition.

During the investigation, five companies — Beypilç, Bolez, Keskinoğlu, Lezita and Şenpiliç — applied for settlement. As a result, they received a 25 percent reduction in penalties and were fined a combined ₺1.03 billion.

The remaining nine companies — Akpiliç, Aspiliç, Bakpiliç, Banvit, Bupiliç, Erpiliç, Gedik and Hastavuk — were found to have exchanged competitively sensitive information in violation of the law. They were fined a total of 2.67 billion liras.

In total, the Competition Authority levied 3.7 billion liras in administrative fines against 13 firms. One company, CP Standart Gıda, was cleared of wrongdoing and faced no penalty.

Beyond the fines, the authority also introduced behavioral remedies. Poultry producers and suppliers will now be required to implement updated sales prices immediately upon notifying buyers, including resellers, and will no longer be allowed to issue forward-dated price lists.

The measure is intended to prevent the advance sharing of pricing information, which the authority said had created a mechanism for anti-competitive coordination.