Salmon producers to contest cartel charges at Sept 15-18 hearing

(Adds SalMar, Grieg Seafood comment in paragraphs 8-9)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Grieg Seafood, SalMar and other Norwegian salmon producers will challenge EU charges of taking part in a cartel and fixing prices at a hearing in Brussels next week, the companies and three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The closed-door hearing in front of senior antitrust officials from the European Commission and national watchdogs and possibly third parties comes eight months after the companies were hit with a statement of objections or charge sheet under antitrust legislation.

The EU executive, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, declined to comment.

In its charge sheet, it said Mowi, Mitsubishi Corp's Cermaq, Grieg Seafood, Bremnes, Leroy , and SalMar exchanged commercially sensitive information such as sales prices and production volumes between 2011 and 2019.

It said this only related to sales on the spot market of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon into the EU and not sales based on long-term contracts.

The alleged conduct concerns sales of fresh, whole and gutted Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway, which accounts for nearly 80% of all farmed Atlantic salmon exported from Norway. The companies were raided by the EU watchdog in 2019.

Norway accounts for over half of the production of farmed Atlantic salmon worldwide and the EU is its main importer.

Salmar said it strongly disagreed with the Commission's preliminary assessment and would present its views on this at the hearing.

Grieg Seafood confirmed it would attend the hearing and denied any antitrust infringements or anti-competitive behaviour by it or its subsidiaries.

Mowi declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment. They all risk fines as much as 10% of their global turnover for breaching EU antitrust rules.

The six companies agreed to pay $85 million to resolve antitrust claims from salmon purchasers in 2022. Earlier this year, a group of UK retailers said they planned to seek damages.

The U.S. Department of Justice closed its investigation in 2023 after sending subpoenas to Mowi, SalMar, Leroy, and Grieg in 2019, the companies have said. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Jonathan Oatis)