DOJ: Enabling competitive information swapping harms competition in this concentrated market.
Citing the harm it causes consumers and grocery stores, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division sued Agri Stats Inc. on Sept. 28 for organizing and managing anticompetitive information exchanges among broiler chicken, pork, and turkey processors. The suit –- part of the DOJ's long-running focus on this industry -– was filed in federal court for the District of Minnesota.
The company has been producing regular reports to competing meat processors based on its collection and integration of data relating to prices, wages, farmer compensation, general costs, and production information. The companies use the data to set prices and output levels, conduct that violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act, the DOJ charges.
According to the complaint:
- Participating processors accounted for more than 90% of U.S. broiler chicken sales, 80% of pork sales, and 90% of turkey sales.
- In some cases, Agri Stats encourages price increases and reduction in meat supplies.
- Agri Stats withholds the data it collects from purchasers, workers, and consumers.
- Private litigation motivated Agri Stats to pause its reports on turkey and pork production, but intends to resume this activity when the cases end.
See our previous commentary and news posts on antitrust actions targeting the pork, poultry, and beef industries:
- DOJ Forces $85M End to Long-Running Conspiracy to Suppress Poultry Wages
- "Big Poultry" Producer Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing
- Pilgrim's Pride Settles Poultry Price-Fixing Charges
- Beef Buyer Class Action Says 'Big Beef' Colluded to Score Record Profits by Manipulating Capacity
- Consumers, Ranchers Allege Cartel in Beef Industry
- Multiple Lawsuits Allege Price-fixing by Big Beef Companies
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