TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Summer is coming, a boom time for ice cream makers, but Japanese authorities have raided six major firms on suspicion of colluding to raise prices.
Among the country’s biggest ice cream firms, the six “are suspected of colluding” to hike prices, a source familiar with the matter told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
Company officials are thought to have sent emails or met up for years to coordinate the timing and size of hikes, the unnamed source said.
Officials from the the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) searched the head offices on Tuesday of Meiji Co., Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Lotte Co., Ezaki Glico Co., Morinaga & Co. and Akagi Nyugyo Co., according to company officials and the source.
Since around 2022, the ice cream companies have raised retail prices every year at around the same time, local media reported.
The JFTC is also investigating whether the companies took advantage of inflation to raise prices beyond what was justified by a spike in raw ingredient costs.
