The collusion case over buying Magallanes king crab
Seven companies, eight executives and conduct charged between 2012 and 2021, before Chile’s Competition Tribunal. No ruling.
On 22 September 2025 Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor filed a complaint before the Competition Tribunal against seven processing companies and eight executives, for coordinating the price they paid artisanal fishermen for live king crab in Magallanes.
The companies named are Elaboradora de Alimentos Porvenir, International Seafood, Pesquera Cabo Froward, Productos Marinos Puerto Williams, Proyecta Corp, Sociedad Pesquera Bahía Chilota and Bakkavör. The conduct charged spans at least 2012 to 2021. The prosecutor sought fines of 62,406 annual tax units for the companies — of the order of US$54 million — and 511 for the executives.
It is a buying cartel, not a selling one
The distinction is the crux of the case and is easily confused. What is alleged is not an agreement to charge consumers more, but an agreement to pay fishermen less. In competition terms that is an oligopsony: many small sellers facing a few large buyers who stop competing with one another.
That is why the harm the prosecutor describes falls on the artisanal fishermen of the Magallanes Region, who would have received lower payments than they would have obtained in a competitive market.
Status of the case
- 22 September 2025: the prosecutor files the complaint before the Tribunal.
- April 2026: the investigation file is submitted to the tribunal.
- 18 June 2026: a group of 91 artisanal fishermen joins as intervening third parties.
- As of this page’s date, no ruling is on record.
What this changes for someone sitting down to eat
Little on the plate and a good deal in how you read the price. Even with no ruling, the case makes plain that the menu price and the dock price are independent numbers. An expensive dish does not prove the chain is well paid, and a cheap one does not prove the opposite.
Why does a food publication run this?
Because a product’s origin is part of the product. A publication that explains what king crab is and what it costs, while omitting public proceedings about how its purchase price was set for nearly a decade, would be choosing which part of the story to tell.
Answers
- ¿Qué pasó con la colusión de la centolla?
- colusión centolla
- ¿Hay sentencia por la colusión de la centolla?
- What is the king crab collusion case?
- king crab cartel Chile
Sources used
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FNE complaint over collusion in the Magallanes king crab purchase market
National Economic Prosecutor’s Office · Consulted August 31, 2026
Press release dated 22 September 2025. Supports the number of defendants, their names, the period charged and the fines sought. It is an accusation: it does not establish the conduct.
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Chilean Competition Tribunal
Judiciary of Chile · Consulted August 31, 2026
Tribunal hearing the king crab purchase collusion case. As of the consultation date no ruling is on record.
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Artisanal fishermen join the king crab collusion case
La Prensa Austral · Consulted August 31, 2026
Report dated 18 June 2026. Supports the procedural status of the case and the joining of 91 fishermen as intervening third parties.
- Number of defendants, company names, period charged, fines sought and market affected.
- Competent tribunal and absence of a ruling as of the consultation date.
- Procedural status as of June 2026 and the joining of 91 fishermen as intervening third parties.
Related reading
What king crab costs, and why
The five things that set the price, and the only published price we could actually verify.
Why king crab goes to China, and what that means for the local table
Seven buyers take almost everything and export it. That is where the two things felt in the city come from: that there is barely anywhere to buy it, and that it is expensive.
Where to eat whole king crab in Punta Arenas
What to ask, what to tell apart and what to expect before ordering a whole king crab in the capital of Magallanes.