Australia fines Coles over milk supply deals; flags Brownes' pricing practices

May 22 (Reuters) - Australia’s ‌competition watchdog ​said ​on Friday that Coles and dairy firm Brownes Foods Operations ‌each paid A$39,600 ($28,270.44) after receiving infringement notices ⁠for restrictive milk supply terms and unclear ‌pricing, respectively.

Here are some ‌details:

• The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges that Coles published two milk supply ​agreements that required exclusive supply to the nation’s No.2 grocer while imposing ⁠volume caps on production.

• The regulator did not disclose the ​counterparties to whom the agreements were issued.

• ACCC claims Brownes failed to ​clearly spell out minimum ‌prices throughout the supply period or justify the reasons for ⁠those minimum prices, in two of its agreements.

• Volume caps embedded in exclusive milk ⁠contracts are especially troubling, the regulator said, as they ​suppress farmers’ output while shutting them out of alternative processors.

• The action comes after a court ‌last week found that Coles misled consumers by raising prices ‌on hundreds of items, then touting discounts ⁠that still exceeded ‌earlier sale prices.

($1 = ​1.4008 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan ‌Nair)

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