Belgian and Swedish Ethanol Producers Added to EU Probe

Two European ethanol producers, Belgium's Alcogroup and Sweden's Lantmannen Agroetanol, have been raided by EU competition authorities as part of a 17-month long investigation into suspected price fixing, according to news reports. The action followed raids of Shell, BP and Statoil in May 2013.

The Commission said it was possible that Alcogroup and/or its subsidiaries Alcodis and Alco Bio Fuel colluded with other firms to manipulate prices submitted to oil pricing agency Platts, according to a Commission document seen by the news agency Reuters.

This collusion could be intended "to move the reference value in a certain direction," the document said.