Six major ice cream giants in Japan are facing the heat from an antitrust watchdog for allegedly forming a price-fixing cartel to raise the cost of their products during the summer.
Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on Tuesday launched raids and inspections at the head offices of leading ice-cream makers Meiji, Morinaga Milk Industry, Lotte, Morinaga, Ezaki Glico and Akagi Nyugyo accusing them of violating the anti-monopoly law.
The ice-cream firms allegedly colluded through multiple communication channels to keep prices high.
According to JFTC, since 2022 at roughly the same time every year the firms reportedly raised the retail prices of their ice-cream and other frozen desserts beyond what the raw materials cost them. JFTC is an independent statutory body that enforces anti-competition law in Japan.
The commission are now trying to find whether the companies took advantage of the inflation to increase retail prices beyond the justified spike in costs. According to the antitrust watchdog, the firms violated the law repeatedly to boost their profits to match the rise in spiking ingredient costs.
Officials at these companies, including the senior executives, have been suspected to have exchanged information through emails and in-person meetings over several years, forming a discreet cartel, to agree on the timing and scale of retail pricing, reported Kyodo news and NHK.
The prices have been reportedly hiked by at least five to 10 per cent several times over the years by the leading ice-cream makers for a wide range of their popular products, the report added.
One of the largest in the world, Japan’s ice cream and frozen desserts market crossed a record 663.1 billion yen (£3.08bn) in the financial year ending in March 2025, reported Kyodo news, citing an industry group.
The companies have issued statements on Tuesday and Wednesday, confirming that their offices have been raided by the JFTC and agreeing to “cooperate with the investigation”.
The consequences of the companies colluding and forming a cartel to wreck the dessert economy are not immediately clear but local media said they will be ordered to pay a hefty fine and correct their business practices.