Mexico fines Heineken with 600,000 dollars for hindering competition

Mexico fines Heineken with 600,000 dollars for hindering competition

The Dutch company, owner of the second Mexican brewery Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma, will appeal the sanction

Heineken Mexico, owner of the second Brewery group in the country, Cuauhtemoc-Moctezuma, has been fined by the Federal Competition Commission (Cofece) with 600,000 dollars for hindering competition in the market. In particular, by not rectifying a series of monopolistic practices that have already been investigated in 2013. The company has announced that it will resort to the sanction of the regulatory body.

"Heineken Mexico respects the resolution of the authority and will use the corresponding legal remedies to resolve this dispute that is still subject to the final decision of the courts. Heineken Mexico is confident that the resolution will be favorable because it has complied with the commitments referred to, "The brewery announced this week in a statement.

The origin of the investigation and the fine begins in 2011, when a group of independent brewing companies present to the competition body a complaint of monopolistic practices in the marketing and distribution sector of both Heineken and Model, the two giants of the Mexican market. Two years later, Heineken committed to correcting behaviors such as giving incentives to distribution companies in exchange for not selling to the competition.

Heineken also committed itself to providing verification mechanisms through monitoring systems and a telephone line. Cofece now considers that these verification and monitoring mechanisms have not been sufficiently fulfilled. The two main breweries in Mexico, both in foreign hands, control more than 90% of the market.

The Belgian giant Anheuser-Busch in Bev bought in 2012 50% of the model group shares to seize the definitive control the following year. Heineken reached an agreement in 2010 with FEMSA (the Coca Cola distributor and Bottling Company in Mexico) to take control of Cuauhtemoc-Moctezuma. Heineken acquired 100% of Femsa Cerveza's shares in Mexico and 83% of the Mexican firm in Brazil. The operation rounded out the 7.347 billion, 000. With the transaction, Femsa became the second shareholder of the Dutch brewery with 20% of the shares, only behind the Heineken family, which owns 25%.

Mexico has established itself as the main exporter of beer with sales exceeding 2.8 billion dollars in 2016. It is also the seventh world producer. The United States is the main customer. Seven out of every 10 liters that leave the country end up in the American market. He is followed by Chile, Australia Canada and the United Kingdom. Mexicans consume per capita about 60 liters of beer a year, far from countries such as the Czech Republic (143 liters per capita), Germany (106) or Austria (105).