Agri Stats Is Accused of Helping American Meat Producers Price Fix Their Products

If the price of meat — specifically chicken, pork, and turkey — feels incredibly high right now, that’s because it is. Though it may have little to do with actual supply or demand. 

In May, a judge ruled that the data analytics and consulting company Agri Stats must face a lawsuit that accused the company of a price-fixing scheme that included major chicken, pork, and turkey processors across the U.S. In August, the company attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out, only to have a judge once again reject its request. 

According to Reuters, in May, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minnesota first denied the motion for dismissal of the suit brought forth by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and six individual states. Tunheim ruled that the Justice Department’s antitrust claims were sufficient to move forward. 

The lawsuit alleges that the company unlawfully collected competitive industry data and shared it with its subscribers — who pay millions to access the data — then used that information to keep its prices inflated to “artificially high” levels.

“The complaint alleges that Agri Stats violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by collecting, integrating, and distributing competitively sensitive information related to price, cost, and output among competing meat processors,” the DOJ’s press release on the lawsuit reads. “This conduct harms customers, including grocery stores and American families.” 

The DOJ’s release on the case also noted that the data included information on sales pricing, fixed costs like worker and farmer compensation, and output by individual companies. Participating processors in the data sharing account for “more than 90% of broiler chicken sales, 80% of pork sales and 90% of turkey sales in the United States,” it added. 

“The complaint further alleges that Agri Stats understood that meat processors have used these reports for anti-competitive purposes and, in some instances, even encouraged meat processors to raise prices and reduce supply,” the DOJ explained. “While distributing troves of competitively sensitive information among participating processors, Agri Stats withholds its reports from meat purchasers, workers, and American consumers, resulting in an information asymmetry that further exacerbates the competitive harm of Agri Stats’ information exchanges.” 

Agri Stats has denied any wrongdoing, telling Agriculture Drive in 2023 that it has played a “vital” role in lowering the cost of these products instead. 

“DOJ’s lawsuit threatens to unwind these benefits and cause further harm to Americans who already are struggling with inflated food costs,” Justin Bernick, a partner at Hogan Lovells representing Agri Stats, stated. 

In August, More Perfect Union released a deep dive on the topic, which is well worth 10 minutes of your time to watch right now.