Paris - Things turned sour on Thursday for eleven French dairy product companies when France's competition watchdog slapped them with €192.7m in fines for fixing prices.
The fines imposed on the "highly organised cartel" - among them Senagral, Novandis, and Lactalis - is one of the highest since the inception of the competition authority, its vice-president Thierry Dahan told a news conference.
The cartel operated between 2006 and 2012 and was accused of agreeing to set wholesale prices for various fresh dairy products in a bid to divvy up the market among themselves.