The Authority for Consumer Protection and Fair Trade announced Thursday its intention to issue an administrative order to stop violations of monopolistic practices that it charged Israel's three major soft drink companies to engage in. The companies are the Central Company for the Production of Soft Drinks Ltd., Tempo Beverages Ltd., and Yapaura-Taburi Ltd.
The Authority ordered the companies to return prices of their products to their original value immediately and cancel any planned price increases. It also intends to later set a fine.
The companies' decision to raise the prices of their products at the same time, said the Authority, when all three control the vast majority of this market, harms the consumers' freedom of choice and forces consumers to purchase their products despite the price increases. This constitutes an unfair influence on the Israeli consumer.
The companies market and sell a variety of beverage products including carbonated drinks, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, water and more, either by themselves or through subsidiaries. Over the years the companies have become dominant in the category and a significant and powerful factor in the field of soft drinks, some of them in a variety of types of drinks.
During the month of March-April 2023, the companies simultaneously announced the increase in the price of various soft and carbonated drinks produced by them. The three companies dominate the soft drinks category completely. The companies issued a similar announcement about raising the prices of their products, this move resulted in the price of the aforementioned products on the part of all the companies.
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