‘Potato cartel’ accused of price-gouging shoppers

Complaints say firms, including McCain Foods and Lamb Weston, broke anti-trust laws by co-ordinating price rises since 2021

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A “potato cartel” consisting of firms producing frozen french fries and hash browns has been accused of price-gouging shoppers.
Producers of frozen potato products allegedly conspired to inflate the prices of the fast-food staples by almost 50 per cent, according to multiple federal lawsuits filed in the last week.
Cavendish Farms, McCain Foods, the J.R. Simplot Company and Lamb Weston, who together control over 95 per cent of the market, are accused of breaking anti-trust law by co-ordinating price rises since 2021.
A plaintiff in a suit filed in Illinois alleged that the companies announced almost-identical rises within days of each other on several occasions, and shared data while maintaining a “direct line of communication”.
This allowed them to move “prices skyward in lockstep,” according to the complaint.
The potato giants conspired “to raise, stabilise, fix [or] otherwise manipulate the prices in the market for the frozen potatoes in the United States,” it continued.
“Armed with the same access to each other’s data on pricing and other sensitive information, as well as with a direct line of communication to each other, the potato cartel moves prices skyward in lockstep — harming all purchasers of potatoes in the process,” it continues.
It further alleges that price co-ordination between the companies was enabled by a data aggregation service to “manipulate and co-ordinate prices”.
This allegedly allowed the “potato cartel” to push up prices by 47 per cent between July 2022 and 2024.
One former McCain Foods director allegedly wanted to compete with Lamb Weston’s pricing in 2023, but was instructed not to do so by the “higher-ups in the room”.
Charlie Angelakos, a McCain Foods executive, denied the claims in a statement.
“McCain Foods strongly disputes any allegation that the company violated antitrust laws, or any other laws, with respect to the sale of frozen potato products,” he told The Washington Post.
“McCain Foods intends to vigorously defend the recently filed lawsuits so that it can focus on what we do best: delivering high quality, affordable food to customers nationwide.”
Lamb Weston said in a statement: “We believe the claims are without merit and intend to vigorously defend our position.”
Cavendish Farms and the J.R. Simplot Company were approached for comment.
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