Minnesota AG joins antitrust suit accusing company of 'conspiring' to raise meat prices

Minnesota has joined a lawsuit accusing a data company of conspiring with meat processors to artificially inflate industry profits at the expense of consumers.

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Monday the state has joined the federal Department of Justice lawsuit against Agri Stats. California, North Carolina and Tennessee have also joined the suit.

The move indirectly pits the state government against several of Minnesota's largest companies, including Cargill and Hormel Foods. The suit alleges the firms were among dozens of Agri Stats' "co-conspirators" in the highly consolidated industry, though they aren't named as defendants in the lawsuit.

"A big reason why our paychecks aren't covering as much as they used to is because corporate profiteers are manipulating markets to line their pockets and stifle competition," Ellison said in a news release.

The federal and state governments accuse Indiana-based Agri Stats of operating "information exchanges to promote total industry profits at the expense of competition" in violation of the 130-year-old Sherman Antitrust Act.

"Agri Stats enables and encourages processors to use its asymmetrical information exchanges to weaken competition, curb production and increase prices for purchasers," the lawsuit states. "And processors follow this advice — ultimately harming consumers."

Agri Stats has called the allegations "baseless" and said the company said it will "vigorously defend" itself.

"The lawsuit threatens serious harm to American consumers of chicken, pork and turkey because protein producers depend upon Agri Stats' reports to help them identify opportunities to reduce production costs to keep prices low," the company said in a statement in September when the suit was initially filed.

Agri Stats provides market reports to companies, including benchmarking reports that provide financial information, slaughter rates and supply levels.

So far, Agri Stats has responded in court by asking the government to redact portions of the lawsuit to protect confidential information. A judge denied that request.

The company is also a defendant in three other pending antitrust cases brought by private parties. Agri Stats paused its turkey and pork data service in 2019 in response to the suits.