China fined six companies including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co, Danone and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra a total of $110 mln following an investigation into price fixing and anti-competitive practices by foreign baby formula makers.
The other three penalised were Abbott Laboratories, Dutch dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina and Hong Kong-listed Biostime International Holdings, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.
The fines, announced just over a month after the NDRC said it was conducting the antitrust review, coincide with separate pricing investigations into foreign and local pharmaceutical firms as well as companies involved in gold trading. Those probes have yet to conclude.
Foreign infant formula is coveted in China, where public trust was damaged by a 2008 scandal in which six infants died and thousands of others were sickened after drinking milk tainted with the toxic industrial compound melamine.
Foreign brands account for about half of total sales and can sell for more than double the price of local formula. The infant milk market in the world's second biggest economy is set to grow to $25 bln by 2017.
The NDRC said in a statement the fines were for restricting competition, setting curbs on minimum prices for distributors and for using a variety of methods to disrupt market order.
Swiss giant Nestle, Japan's Meiji Holdings and Zhejiang Beingmate Scientific Technology Industry and Trade Co were not punished because "they cooperated with the investigation, provided important evidence and carried out active self-rectification", Xinhua said, citing the NDRC.
The commission fined Mead Johnson 203.8 mln yuan ($33.29 mln); Danone 172 mln yuan; Biostime 162.9 mln yuan; Abbott 77 mln yuan; FrieslandCampina 48 mln yuan and Fonterra 4 mln yuan.
After the NDRC probe was announced, a number of companies including Mead Johnson, Danone and Nestle cut prices on their baby formula in China by up to 20%.
Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, said it would give additional training to sales staff and review its distributor contracts in the wake of its fine.
Fonterra is embroiled in a separate milk powder contamination scare that has led to product recalls in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia.
The milk sector is still relatively young in China, with consumption of dairy products growing at an annual compound rate of 20%, a contrast to U.S. and European markets where demand has been shrinking in the past decade.
