NC settles lawsuit against company accused of contributing to higher meat prices
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Agri Stats was allegedly producing reports that allowed meat processors to raise prices.
- A lawsuit settlement announced by the NC Attorney General would end those practices.
- The settlement still needs court approval.
The Department of Justice and attorneys general of six states including North Carolina recently reached a settlement that could help lower food prices and increase competition in the meat industry.
If approved, the settlement would end practices of the Indiana-based company Agri Stats that attorneys said enabled meat processors to set higher prices for chicken, pork and turkey. Agri Stats, an agricultural benchmarking service that offers price discovery, forecasting and analytic tools to meat sellers and buyers, denied all allegations and admitted no wrongdoing in the case.
In a lawsuit filed in 2023, attorneys alleged that Agri Stats was violating antitrust laws by producing reports that contained non-public information about meat processors’ sales, production and profits. Agri Stats then sold those reports to competing processors — but not grocery stores or restaurants, according to the lawsuit. Those processors used the reports to raise prices, according to the lawsuit. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson called the reports a “secret tool.”
“Families paid higher prices so a handful of companies could profit off information no one else was allowed to see,” Jackson said in a May 11 news release. “That’s not a market, it’s an illegal conspiracy — and we just ended it.”
The proposed settlement would require Agri Stats to:
- Stop providing sales reports or non-public pricing information
- Stop reporting production, cost and labor data at competing companies or facilities
- Make most of the information Agri Stats distributes available to any interested domestic buyers
- Cooperate with a compliance monitor to ensure Agri Stats is adhering to the settlement terms
- Submit an antitrust compliance policy to the Justice Department
What is Agri Stats accused of?
In the initial complaint from September 2023, attorneys allege that major meat processors used Agri Stats reports containing “competitively sensitive information” to identify products that could be priced higher, based on competitors’ pricing.
The reports also contained metrics that allowed processors to predict and monitor competitors’ output, helping them decide when to restrict supply, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint cites messages, spreadsheets and charts circulated by executives and managers at companies including Tyson and Sanderson to show that the companies used Agri Stats reports when negotiating prices for particular products.
The lawsuit uses Tyson’s tray pack items as an example. The average price of these products increased by more than 20% between January 2010 and May 2012, as Tyson gradually raised its prices to reduce the “variance” between its average prices and the national average.
“Tyson’s price increases were not dictated by independent market forces that affected costs or supply,” according to the complaint. “Rather, the Agri Stats reports, by providing averages and the top 25th percentile, informed Tyson that it could increase prices on items that its competitors already sold at higher prices.”
What Agri Stats said
Agri Stats president Eric Scholer said in a news release its reports have “helped companies expand their production and drive down their costs significantly, all to the benefit of the American consumer.”
Chicken processors have made profits of about 4 cents per pound over the past 15 years, Scholer said.
“The only way those companies can continue to keep prices low for consumers and remain in business is to make their operations as efficient as possible, and Agri Stats helps them to do exactly that,” Scholer said.
Since Agri Stats was founded in 1985, chicken prices have decreased as supply has increased, Scholer said in the news release. But the data Agri Stats cites refers to wholesale prices, the company told The News & Observer, not retail prices.
And while retail chicken prices haven’t outpaced inflation, they have increased over time, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. The average retail price of a fresh, whole chicken has been steadily rising from about 70 cents per pound in January 1980 to about $2 per pound in April 2026. Boneless chicken breasts cost, on average, about $3.30 per pound in January 2006, but about $4.16 in January 2026.
What’s next?
The proposed settlement, which was reached by attorneys general of California, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, in addition to the North Carolina attorney general and justice department, was submitted to the court May 7.
The proposed settlement and a competitive impact statement will be published in the Federal Register. After a 60-day public comment period, it goes before the court for approval.
