June 25 (Reuters) – Cal-Maine Foods and other egg suppliers are close to resolving an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and a bipartisan group of states into alleged illegal price coordination, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Here are some more details:
• The Justice Department and participating states are also nearing settlements with Hickman’s Egg Ranch and Versova, Bloomberg reported.
• Under the proposed agreement, the companies would pay several million dollars in civil penalties and donate more than 50 million eggs, while agreeing to stop exchanging prices and other competitively sensitive information, according to the report.
• The Department of Justice, Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman’s Eggs Ranch and Versova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
• The lawsuit filed in April alleged egg producers coordinated using an industry price-benchmarking service, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• U.S. egg producers have been facing a growing wave of class-action lawsuits accusing them of price-fixing amid consumer frustration over rising food costs, including eggs.
• Egg prices in the U.S. have surged in recent years after bird flu outbreaks wiped out millions of laying hens, triggering supply shortages.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
