UK's Lactalis McLelland admits cheese price-fixing

Cheese maker Lactalis Mc Lelland admitted it was part of a dairy price-fixing ring which cost Britain's consumers around £270 million, joining a list of firms admitting antitrust violations.

Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said the "seriously strong" cheddar maker had admitted involvement in alleged anti-competitive practices in the retail price of cheese.

After owning up and agreeing to cooperate with the probe, the OFT said the privately owned company would receive a "significant reduction in the financial penalty that could otherwise have been imposed".

The OFT said in September it had found evidence that supermarkets and their suppliers had colluded to hike dairy product prices between 2002 and 2003.

In December supermarket operators J Sainsbury and Asda, together with a number of dairy firms, admitted raising prices unfairly saying the moves had been designed to help struggling farmers.

In exchange all were given reduced fines, while dairy processor Arla was let off without a penalty after it was the first to hand over evidence of the fixing practices.

Supermarket rivals Tesco and Morrisons continue to fight the charges.