Albania agrifood monopoly operator fined €400,000 for abusive rents

TIRANA, Nov. 26 – Albania’s Competition Authority has fined an Albanian-owned company for abusing its monopoly position by overcharging traders at Tirana’s wholesale agrifood market just outside the Albanian capital city where it has been offering warehousing and trade facilities since 2015, with the higher costs incurred by traders estimated to have also hit consumer prices. The competition watchdog says it has fined Albanian-owned ‘Ekma Albania’ 10 percent of its 2017 turnover, equal to about 50 million lek (€400,000), for abusing its dominant position as the sole provider of warehousing facilities for fruit and vegetable products in Tirana, a region…