Todorić’s Frikom Must Pay 2.64 Million Euros in Fines

The frozen food industry Frikom from Belgrade, a company majority-owned by the Croatian conglomerate Agrokor, has abused its dominant position in the wholesale market of industrial ice cream in Serbia and will have to pay around 2.6 million euros, announced the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition.

Belgrade media, citing a statement from this commission, report that, in accordance with the law, Frikom is required to pay four percent of the unlawfully obtained revenue, which amounts to 300 million dinars, or approximately 2.6 million euros.

According to the statement, the commission found that Frikom acted with the intention of weakening and eliminating existing competition from the market, while creating significant barriers to the entry of new competitors, simultaneously strengthening its own dominant position.

The distortion of competition is evident in the standard contracts that Frikom concluded with customers – retailers from 2008 to 2010, and in a number of contracts even after 2010.

It is stated that this involved imposing an obligation on retailers to fully apply the retail prices set in Frikom’s price lists in their further sales.

Additionally, it was established that Frikom imposed an obligation for exclusive purchase of certain products from Frikom, along with a direct or indirect prohibition on the sale of competing products, and Frikom, through a developed system of incentives and stimulation for retailers, as stated, “decisively influenced the business decisions of customers” to choose Frikom as the sole supplier, as noted on the website of the Commission for Protection of Competition.

At the same time, Frikom imposed unjustifiably high amounts of damage compensation in case retailers did not comply with their obligations, as explained in the commission’s statement.

Agrokor became the majority owner of Frikom in 2003 after having the best offer in an international tender.