(Bloomberg) -- The shares of the world’s biggest salmon farmers dropped after the European Union accused the companies of plotting to distort competition.

Mowi ASA, the top producer of farmed salmon, fell as much as 7.9% in Oslo trading, while SalMar ASA dropped as much as 5.2% and Grieg Seafood ASA slumped 7.9%. 

The European Commission said it fired off a so-called statement of objections after its initial probe revealed that Cermaq, Grieg Seafood, Bremnes, Leroy Seafood Group ASA, Mowi and SalMar exchanged commercially sensitive information. This would relate to sales prices, available volumes, sales volumes, production volumes and production capacities, as well as other price-setting factors, according to a statement on Thursday.

Mowi, Leroy, Grieg Seafood and SalMar all denied the allegation in separate statements. Mowi “strongly believes there has been no infringement of the competition rules,” it said.

The news may have prompted a selloff in the Norwegian currency, as it reversed an earlier strengthening to be little changed as of 1:41 p.m. in Oslo.

“Foreign investors have likely sold out of fishing stocks on the Oslo stock exchange after this adverse news line hit the wire, and at the same time sold the krone in the process of transferring funds out of Norway,” said Dane Cekov, Nordea Bank Abp’s senior strategist. 

The commission said the suspected aim of the alleged conduct was to reduce normal uncertainty in the market for spot sales of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon into the EU.

Should the commission conclude that there’s sufficient evidence of an infringement, it can impose a fine of as much as 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover, it said. There’s no legal deadline for it to complete its inquiries.

Norway’s salmon farming industry, the biggest in the world, benefits from conditions along its fjords and coastline that are difficult to replicate outside of the region, supporting its world-leading position. The Nordic country makes up more than half of global supply in an industry where production growth has been checked as biological boundaries are reached.

Poland, France and the US were the biggest single markets for salmon from Norway last year, according to data from the Norwegian Seafood Council.  

Back in 2022, Norwegian seafood companies reached a settlement in a class-action in the US over claims concerning anti-competitive behavior.

--With assistance from Ott Ummelas.

(Updates with krone move in fifth paragraph, size of potential fine in eighth)

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