On April 9th, according to reports, the world’s four major suppliers of flavors and fragrances – Firmenich, Symrise, Givaudan, and IFF – jointly requested a U.S. judge to dismiss the allegations of colluding to raise prices of ingredients for cosmetics, cleansers, and other household products.
The reports point out that the four suppliers argued in documents filed on Monday that the plaintiffs failed to identify “any specific instance of an actual agreement, or any individual alleged to have participated in such an agreement, in any manner or at any location,” and claimed that their claims were “full of loopholes.” It is reported that the plaintiffs seeking compensation include “direct” or “indirect” purchasers of flavoring ingredients, as well as some retail consumers.
The plaintiffs’ legal team did not respond on Tuesday. Representatives of the four suppliers also did not immediately comment or refuse to respond.
The plaintiffs stated in court documents that these suppliers had conspired to manipulate prices since at least 2018 to cope with the rising costs of raw materials for flavoring products. The defendants claimed in documents filed on Monday that they were engaged in “ordinary” business practices, such as collecting competitive intelligence and participating in industry conferences.
The report also noted that following investigations by Swiss and other antitrust authorities into these four suppliers in March last year, at least nine lawsuits against these suppliers were filed in U.S. courts as of late July last year. The lawsuits filed by U.S. judges alleged that these flavoring suppliers conspired to divide the production of synthetic and natural flavors, including flavors used in the manufacturing of detergents, cosmetics, and perfumes.
In March last year, these four suppliers were subjected to joint investigations by European and American antitrust authorities, and multiple business premises were subject to surprise inspections. Subsequently, Firmenich appealed to the European Union Court against the antitrust searches conducted by the European Commission between March 7th and March 9th, arguing that the searches were unlawful.
