What is the main goal of cartels?

A cartel is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that may agree to fix prices, marketing, total industry output, market shares, allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, and the division of profits; or combination of these. The aim of this collusion is to increase individual members' profits by reducing competition.

Cartels usually occur in oligopolistic industries, where the number of sellers is small, usually because the barriers to entry, typically startup costs, are high. The products being traded are usually commodities.