Milk case goes to court
Milk producers Milkwood Dairy and Woodlands Dairy are in court today, 7 December 2009, in a move that will further delay any resolution of a probe into anticompetitive behaviour that started almost five years ago.
The two Eastern Cape dairies will apply to the Competition Appeal Court in Cape Town for leave to appeal against a ruling that allowed the case against them to go ahead despite procedural flaws.
Milkwood and Woodlands are the smallest of eight producers caught up in a probe the Competition Commission began in February 2005 into SA's annual 2,4-billion-litre milk market.
The commission alleges that the two companies — along with Clover Industries, Clover SA, Parmalat, Ladismith Cheese, Lacewood and Nestlé SA — contravened competition laws by fixing prices and allocating market share among themselves.
Milkwood and Woodlands want to prevent the commission using information it gleaned from them in its case as evidence, saying it was obtained as a result of a summons issued unlawfully. If they are successful, they will be able to take their case to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Source: Business Day
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