Múltis deny wrongdoing in the ice cream industry

Unilever/Kibon and Nestle denied it violated the law of competition in ice cream market. The companies were accused by the Grande Rio Della Vita Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Alimentícios to limit the access of competitors to the market and to demand exclusivity in the dissemination of publicity in the mass media. The Administrative Council for economic Defense (Cade) initiated an administrative proceeding against the two companies.
In notes sent to the Broadcast, real-time service the Agência Estado, Nestlé and Unilever if defended charges of violations of the economic order.
"Unilever has learned about the investigation initiated by the Cade in relation to their business practices. Unilever is fully committed to the applicable legislation and company policy is the integral cooperation with competent antitrust authorities, "says the note from Unilever.
Nestle already stated that "the policy full respect to the laws governing the market and reaffirms its commitment to cooperate with the competent authorities finding facts". The company gave no further details on the issue and said that "no comments on subjects that are in progress on the administrative level".
Investigation. The process moved by Cade aims to determine if companies have committed infractions in the economic order, as denounced the Grande Rio Della Vita company Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Alimentícios, according to preliminary calculation that the legislation was before Cade.
According to the document, Unilever and Nestle may have violated articles of the former and the current competition act, especially with regard to actions linked to merchandising. Companies are charged, for example, to limit or prevent access of new companies to the market and to require or grant exclusivity to dissemination of publicity in the media. Both companies must submit evidence to the Cade and defense within 30 days.
If proven practice of breaking economic order, the companies will be placed, among other penalties, the penalty that ranges from 0.1% to 20% of the value of its gross revenues obtained in the last financial year preceding the establishment of the administrative process in the field of business activity in which the infraction occurred. I.e. in this case, the ticket would take into consideration the revenue of companies just in the business of ice cream. Both Unilever and Nestlé have business in other segments.
Marketplace. The ice-cream market competition tends to get fiercer with the current economic scenario. The consumer is indebted and tends to avoid the expenses that it considers superfluous. What happens in times of tightening is the consumer migration to more expensive brands for cheaper. The challenge for leaders is to keep its market share during this period.
In an interview to the State in September, Marden Sekaran, market analyst from Nielsen, noted that part of the income of families today is consumed by benefits already assumed. "With less money available, the Brazilian is to consume less and worse" he said. "Even if you invest in the revitalization of the brands and new products, the leaders will be under pressure not to raise prices."