European Commission fines ethanol producer Lantmännen $52.4 million over ethanol benchmarks cartel

In Belgium, the European Commission has fined Lantmännen ek för and its subsidiary Lantmännen Biorefineries AB around $52.4 million for participating in a cartel concerning the wholesale price formation mechanism for ethanol in Europe.  

The body explained that this decision follows the adoption of a settlement decision against Abengoa in 2021 and the closure of proceedings against Alcogroup in 2023.

The port of Rotterdam and the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp barge market were the most important trading locations for ethanol in the European Economic Area (EEA) at the time of the infringement. S&P Global Platts, a company that provides price assessments for different commodity markets, used a price assessment process called ‘Market on Close’ (‘MOC’) to establish its ethanol benchmarks, which were widely used as reference prices in the industry. The key period for Platts’ price assessment process was the time between 16:00 and 16:30 London time (called the MOC Window).

The European Comission said that Lantmännen is the largest ethanol producer in the Nordic region and referenced most of its ethanol sales contracts to the monthly average of Platts’ ethanol benchmarks during the infringement period. Therefore, the level of Platts’ ethanol benchmarks could directly influence the revenues that Lantmännen received from its ethanol sales during that period.

The Commission’s investigation revealed that Lantmännen, together with two other companies coordinated its trading conduct on a regular basis before, during and after the MOC Window, agreed to limit the supply of physical ethanol in the Rotterdam area that could end up in the MOC Window and exchanged commercially sensitive information in order to implement the coordinated behavior.

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