Romania fines Agrana and Lucsor €10.22 million over sugar price-fixing agreements
Romania’s Competition Council fined Agrana group companies and distributor Lucsor Impex a combined 52.09 million lei (€10.22 million) for agreements affecting sugar sale prices. Agrana admitted the infringement and received a reduced fine, while Lucsor plans to challenge the decision.
Competition authority imposes 52.09 million lei in fines
Romania’s Competition Council has fined Agrana Sales & Marketing GmbH, Agrana România SRL and Lucsor Impex SRL a combined 52.09 million lei, approximately €10.22 million, over anticompetitive agreements concerning sugar sale prices. According to Agrointel, the two Agrana companies, treated as a single economic unit, received a fine of 42.18 million lei, while distributor Lucsor Impex was fined 9.91 million lei.
The authority concluded that Agrana and Lucsor jointly determined the value of the components used to form Lucsor’s selling prices, including its commercial margin. That margin should have been set independently by the distributor. The arrangement meant that prices charged by Lucsor to its own customers followed the same trend as Agrana’s prices, the Competition Council said.
The regulator found that the purpose was to increase Romanian sugar prices or at least keep them above the level that would have resulted under normal competitive conditions. Romanian competition law prohibits agreements and concerted practices that restrict or distort competition, particularly those that directly or indirectly determine purchase prices, sale prices or other trading conditions.
Agrana admits infringement as Lucsor prepares appeal
Agrana Sales & Marketing and Agrana România admitted breaching competition law and consequently received a reduction in their fine. Lucsor Impex, by contrast, said it would challenge the Competition Council’s decision in court, arguing that the finding was not supported by evidence, Romania TV reported. The regulator’s decisions are enforceable, with the National Agency for Fiscal Administration responsible for collecting the fines as state-budget revenue.
The Competition Council also closed its investigation into Pfeifer & Langen Romania SRL. It said the inquiry had not produced sufficient evidence of a legal infringement to justify measures or penalties against that company.
Penalty lands amid pressure on Agrana’s sugar business
Agrana, an Austrian group estimated by Romania TV to control between 30% and 50% of Romania’s sugar market, had already created a litigation-risk provision during its 2025/2026 financial year. The provision reduced group operating profit, or EBIT, by €9.5 million to €3.2 million, a decline of 92.1% from the previous year, according to the publication’s account of information reported by Economica.
In Romania, Agrana owns the Roman sugar factory and the Buzău facility. The company reported 2025 revenue of 474.7 million lei, approximately 1.7 times lower than a year earlier. It moved from a net profit of 2.7 million lei to a net loss of 11.1 million lei. The group had 229 employees in Romania during the 2025/2026 financial year, down from 431 one year earlier.
The business is still affected by the temporary closure of its Buzău raw-sugar refinery in November 2023, where only packaging, storage and logistics operations were retained. European market conditions have also weakened: the white-sugar price fell to €516 per tonne in January 2026, its lowest level since September 2022. Agrana has additionally said that Ukrainian sugar imports into Romania contributed to lower local sales volumes and prices. The group expects European Union sugar production to decline in the 2025/2026 marketing year because of reduced sugar-beet acreage, while demand is expected to remain broadly stable.
