Chicory producers in France are being threatened with condemnation for collusion, it was revealed at the annual congress of vegetable producers near Lyon, Agrapresse reported.
Competition authorities have reproached producers of chicory, or endives, for participating in 'complex and continued collusion on the French chicory market for more than 15 years', according to the national federation of chicory producers (FNPE).
The producers, facing a possible €38m fine, have maintained that they have always remained transparent and have only followed the recommendations coming from Paris and Brussels to group together.
Angélique Delahaye, president of the Producteurs de légumes de France association, commented: 'We are asked to organise ourselves into producer groups, and when we do that, we are attacked for harmonising prices.'
