The $12 million vegetable cartel: How suppliers fixed prices charged to ALDI

Australia's second-largest fresh vegetable supplier has admitted illegally fixing prices charged to ALDI, exposing a competition problem further up the grocery supply chain than the supermarkets themselves.

On 26 October, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced that Perfection Fresh Australia had admitted cartel conduct on 11 occasions between 2019 and 2020.

The conduct involved broccoli, cauliflower and iceberg lettuce supplied to ALDI stores in New South Wales.

Perfection Fresh and the ACCC will jointly ask the Federal Court to impose a $12 million penalty. The Court has not yet approved that amount.

How did the cartel operate?

ALDI purchases some fresh vegetables through an agile pricing system, requiring suppliers to submit new prices every week.

Ordinarily, competing suppliers should independently decide what prices to quote. That competition gives ALDI opportunities to negotiate lower wholesale costs.

Instead, Perfection Fresh has admitted participating in arrangements fixing prices offered to ALDI.

The wider ACCC case alleges that competing suppliers made or attempted 28 price-fixing arrangements between 2018 and 2024, and submitted prices consistent with those arrangements on 48 occasions.

Those wider allegations cover six vegetables across NSW, Victoria and Queensland. They have not all been established in court.

Who else is involved?

The ACCC commenced proceedings in September 2025 against Perfection Fresh, Hydro Produce, Veli Velisha Fresh Produce and Velisha National Farms, and M. Fragapane & Sons, together with three executives.

Proceedings against the remaining respondents continue. ALDI is not accused of participating in the cartel.

Why $12 million?

The proposed penalty covers nine contraventions and one attempted contravention. One additional admitted contravention falls outside the applicable penalty period.

Perfection Fresh has also agreed to continue implementing a competition-law compliance program, subject to the Court's orders.

Did shoppers pay more?

That remains unquantified. The ACCC has not established how much the arrangements increased ALDI's wholesale prices or whether higher costs were passed through to shoppers.

But the case illustrates an important distinction in Australia's grocery competition debate.

Anti-competitive behaviour can occur between suppliers, not just between supermarkets. Stronger retail competition depends partly on genuine competition throughout the supply chain.