German competition watchdog in beer market probe

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has launched the investigation Berlin – Arabstoday German antitrust authorities said on Monday that they had opened an investigation against several brewers over the suspected price fixing of beer. The Federal Cartel Office \"is investigating several breweries,\" a spokeswoman for the office told AFP, confirming a report in Focus news weekly.
\"As it\'s a procedure that is still ongoing, we cannot give any more details,\" she added.
According to Focus magazine, the competition watchdog has been looking since last year into about a dozen brewers, who collectively share more than half of the German beer market.
The groups being investigated include AB-InBev, which produces the Beck\'s label, Carlsberg, the Oetker group and family-owned groups such as Warsteiner and Krombacher, the magazine said.
The last two have confirmed they are being investigated.