Data Compiler Sued For ‘Anti-Competitive’ Information Exchange

Citing the Sherman Act, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against data compiler Agri Stats Inc., in September. This is another in a long series of lawsuits based on weekly and monthly reports for meat processors, which they use to set prices and output levels.

The DOJ accuses Agri Stats of organizing and managing anti-competitive information exchanges among broiler chicken, pork, and turkey processors. As reported in Feed Stuffs, the data at issue consists of sensitive information related to price, cost, and output among meat processors who are supposed to be in competition.

Agri Stats is owned by a series of holding companies. It was purchased from Eli Lilly, using funding from a Swiss venture capital firm in 2018. The company is the subject of numerous civil lawsuits, all making similar accusations of collusion. It stopped providing information on turkey and pork in 2019 after litigation.

Feed Stuffs quotes an attorney representing the company who says that Agri Stats strongly denies the accusations, and adds that the DOJ investigated Agri Stats a decade ago and closed the investigation after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

The DOJ’s complaint was filed in the District of Minnesota. It alleges that Agri Stats knows that meat processors have used the reports for anti-competitive purposes, and encouraged meat processors to raise prices and reduce supply in some instances. Dozens of meat processors, including Hormel, Jennie-O, and Cargill, are called “co-conspirators” in the scheme.

“This case is the latest effort by the Justice Department to protect American consumers, farmers, and workers from anti-competitive practices in the agriculture industry,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.