Hickman’s Egg Ranch, Arizona’s largest egg producer, has agreed to pay a $1 million fine and donate 3.25 million eggs to resolve federal and state allegations that it worked with others to inflate egg prices. Federal prosecutors said Hickman’s shared pricing information through a system that let producers coordinate and artificially inflate egg prices.
The Justice Department said prices would be even higher today if Hickman’s Egg Ranch and others hadn’t lowered them after learning of the investigation and being told to preserve records. Hickman’s was acquired last year by MTQ USA, and a representative of MTQ USA said everything in the federal complaint occurred before that acquisition.
Howie Fischer, Capitol Media Services Chief Correspondent, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the investigation.
Within all of this, Fischer said that there was a “two step procedure”. The first step being a bid for more eggs that goes through a clearing house, Fischer then touched on what happened next.
“But what they also found out from texts, including from Glenn Hickman, is that they were telling each other, ‘now bid up the prices, bid up the prices, submit a lot of bids even if they don’t buy it’. Because then these higher prices get reported to another company, the other company puts out at the end of the day here are the retail prices and then Hickman’s and these other companies then get to sell to Fry’s, to Smitty’s, to whomever else at those higher prices,” Fischer said.
Hickman’s at the time was family owned but is now owned by a South American conglomerate who has voiced that they were not involved in these happenings. Fischer also noted that he has not been able to get a comment from the Hickman family.
The four-way court settlement that includes Hickaman’s, the federal trade commission and two other companies still needs court approval. Fischer shared a bit about what the payout would look like where it currently stands.
“Everyone sort of agreed, the 3.25 million eggs for charity, great deal for food banks and things like that. And that’s only from Hickman’s, it’s a little over 50 million eggs counting the other three,” Fischer said.
