The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) recently issued a ruling targeting a price-fixing cartel operating within the country’s egg market. The ECA’s investigation revealed that key players in the sector had been colluding to set the daily selling prices of table eggs. This cartel agreement led to an unjustified increase in egg prices across Egypt, sparking concerns about market manipulation and its impact on consumers.
The investigation unveiled that, at the close of each day, members of the Table Eggs Chamber, along with major egg producers, would convene to discuss and agree upon the price for the following day’s egg sales. This coordinated effort to control pricing was not limited to private meetings but extended to publicly sharing these prices across social media platforms. The prices were routinely posted on the Facebook pages of the Table Eggs Chamber and various regional unions, and even individual pages of the farms, ensuring widespread dissemination of the new price information. The price-fixing scheme resulted in higher prices for eggs, affecting both traders and consumers.
One of the most concerning aspects of the investigation was the obstruction of the ECA’s inquiry. Evidence revealed that a senior member of the Table Eggs Chamber had actively discouraged members from cooperating with the ECA and other regulatory authorities. Moreover, this individual reportedly took steps to destroy evidence and impede the progress of the investigation.
The ECA considered the exchange of future pricing information to be a direct violation of Article 6 of the Egyptian Competition Law (ECL), which explicitly prohibits cartel behaviour. Under the ECL, any agreement between competitors that involves price-fixing, market-sharing, or other forms of anti-competitive practices is considered unlawful. By engaging in these coordinated pricing discussions and sharing the information with other market participants, the involved parties effectively created a closed market where prices were artificially inflated, to the detriment of consumers.
The decision to pursue charges against the egg producers underscores the ECA’s growing commitment to tackling cartel activity in Egypt. Over recent years, the ECA has ramped up its enforcement efforts under Article 6 of the ECL, issuing several high-profile rulings in different sectors.
The ECA has shown particular interest in sectors that provide essential goods and services to the public. Other industries such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), healthcare, and education have similarly been the focus of recent investigations.
