HKU COMPETITION LAW LECTURE SERIES:
Cracks or Chasms in International Merger Review and Cartel Cases? An Assessment Drawing from Recent Agri-food Cases

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High levels of concentration have been identified in agri-food markets with implications for food security as, for example, highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and by the G20 Food Security Task Force. This raises questions about the review of international mergers which have contributed to the increased concentration and the effectiveness in addressing international coordinated conduct. We consider large mergers in three agri-food markets highlighted in the current ICN Special Project on Agriculture and Food: commodity trading, fertilizer and poultry. We also review recent cartel cases in the poultry industry. Our assessment is that the gaps in merger review and cartel enforcement are not ‘cracks’ which can be filled through co-operation between authorities and capacity-building in younger authorities, but are ‘chasms’ which require a more fundamental rethink. We identify key issues relating to merger review and cartel enforcement and contribute to practical steps which can be taken by authorities, even while a global competition regime is not on the horizon.

About the Speaker:

Simon Roberts is a Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg, where he founded the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED), a research professor at the Centre for Sustainable Structural Transformation, SOAS University of London, and a special advisor to the Shamba Centre for Food and Climate. Simon has been an economics director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the Chief Economist at the Competition Commission of South Africa. He has been closely involved in the development of competition regimes across Africa and has testified as an expert witness in a number of major cases in South Africa. Since 2022 Simon has been focusing on concentration and competition issues in agri-food markets in the context of climate change.

Chair:

Julian Nowag, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

Enquiries: Flora Leung at aiiflhku@hku.hk