Fines against Coca-Cola in Mexico upheld
Mexico’s federal competition commission has upheld a $15 million fine against Coca-Cola’s Mexican subsidiary for anti-competitive practices.
The commission began investigating the company when a complaint was made in 2003 by Raquel Chavez, a Mexican shopkeeper. Ms Chavez claimed that her Coca-Cola supplier refused to sell to her shop when she began to stock a rival brand, Big Cola. The complaint led to the commission finding other similar incidents.
The fines have been imposed on 15 of the distributors and bottlers of Coca-Cola in the region and will be a victory for Ajegroup, the maker of Big Cola soda.
The commission is currently reconsidering a separate case of monopolistic practices against 55 distributors of Coke products filed by Pepsico, in which each distributor was fined $1 million.
Source: drinks-business-review.com
Mexican Coke firms fined for strong-arm tactics
Mexico's competition watchdog upheld on Thursday fines totaling almost $15 million against 15 Coca-Cola (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) bottlers and distributors for forcing shops to sell only their soft drinks.
The distributors, many owned by Mexico-based Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (KOFL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's No. 2 Coke bottler, as well as the Coca-Cola Export Corp., owned by Coca-Cola Co. (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), were fined about $1 million each for insisting that stores in Mexico only sell Coke brand products and not competitors' drinks.
The Federal Competition Commission said the
MEXICO: Coke fined by competition authority
Coca-Cola’s Mexican subsidiary and some of its bottlers have been fined US$15m after failing to convince Mexico's competition watchdogs that it had not broken trade laws.
The Federal Competition Commission upheld a fine imposed on Coke and its bottlers for allegedly pressurising small shops into refusing to stock other brands of cola.
The Commission received a complaint from Raquel Chavez in 2003. She accused a Coca-Cola distributor of refusing to sell to her small shop because she had started stocking the rival brand Big Cola.
Big Cola, a Peruvian-based supplier of cheap-end colas, joined the action against Coca-Cola.
In Mexico, Taking Fizz Out of the Cola Giants
The founders of the upstart cola maker Ajegroup know a thing or two about guerrilla marketing.
When Shining Path rebels took to hijacking Coca-Cola Co. trucks in the late 1980s during Peru's civil war, the Ananos family started peddling its own line of soft drinks in recycled beer bottles to meet local demand. Today the company controls more than one-fifth of the cola market in Peru.
Ajegroup is still taking potshots at Coke, but the battle has shifted north to Mexico, where the Peruvians are once again making gains through unorthodox methods. In a
Pepsi's antitrust complaint brings $54 million levy
Mexico's antitrust commission has hit Coca-Cola and its bottlers with a $54 million fine in response to 5-year-old complaints by rival Pepsico that it used exclusive deals with stores to shut out competitors.
If it sticks, the fine would be one of the largest ever levied against the Coke system for anti-competitive violations.
Coke said it plans to appeal. If the company loses, it will be responsible for about $1 million of the fine. Six bottlers are responsible for the rest, and each would decide on its own whether to appeal, said Coke spokesman Ben Deutsch.
Pepsi's
FACTBOX-Some facts about Mexico
Mexico holds presidential elections on Sunday. Here are some facts about the country.
There are few places in the world where the rich-poor divide is so visible as in Mexico. Mexicos Carlos Slim is the worlds third-richest tycoon, with an estimated wealth of $30 billion, whereas one in five cannot afford to eat properly.
Outgoing President Vicente Fox is a former Coca-Cola executive. A keen rancher who knows how to milk cows, Fox was told by his doctors to stop wearing his trademark cowboy boots halfway through his presidency because of a back problem.
Fox ousted the Institutional
FIFA Slaps Mexico Football with Heavy Fines for Doping
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In a statement Wednesday, FIFA said it fined the Mexican Federation more than $583,000 after Aaron Galindo and Salvador Carmona tested positive for the steroid nandrolone.
The Mexican Federation tested the players before the tournament, which began on June 15. However, the men were not expelled until June 22, after they played in Mexico's 2-1 victory over Japan and 1-0 win over
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Cascada Cola de Caballo (Horsetail Falls): Monterrey
"Horsetail Falls", a 25 meter waterfall, is six km up a road leading west off the national highway at the south end of El Cercado. You can park at either the hotel or continue up the rod a few meters to the main entrance to the falls. After parking and paying admission, you can begin the scenic walk (or ride a donkey cart) to the falls. You can walk until cascades (almost one mile) from the entrance or can rent a cart thrown by a horse or mounting to horse. You can acercarte
MEXICO CITY - Five years after a historic election triumph, Mexican President Vicente Fox remains popular despite a slow economy and his failure to beat violent drug gangs on the U.S. border.
A poll by the Reforma newspaper released on Thursday gave Fox a 61 percent approval rating, his highest in more than two years.
Fox has fallen short of promises to create millions more jobs and spur economic growth since he ended 71 years of one-party rule in 2000.
And while Fox claims to be winning the war on narcotics traffickers, drug-related killings have blighted northern Mexican cities.
But the former Coca-Cola executive
Mexico should enact immigration reform
MEXI-CO President Vicente Fox has spent much of his international political capital fighting the U.S. House bill passed last December that proposes felon status for illegal immigrants in the United States.
Too bad illegal immigrants in his own land - mostly Central American migrants on their way to the United States - are already treated as criminals. Under a 32-year-old Mexican law, people who have crossed into Mexico illegally can be penalized with two to five years in prison, although the punishment is rarely imposed.
Three legislators, all members of Foxs National Action Party, are working
