An indictment filed in Iowa federal court and unsealed last week revealed a multi-year effort by a group of large companies to manipulate an obscure yet critical process for setting egg prices in the US.

The Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice stated that from 2022 to 2025, executives from three egg production and distribution companies – Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman's, and Versova – repeatedly communicated via calls and texts to coordinate bidding and trading activities.

Egg products are displayed at a local supermarket in Sugar Hill, Manhattan, New York City, in 4/2024. Photo: AFP

This price-fixing collusion occurred when egg supplies were scarce, forcing consumers to pay unprecedentedly high prices. The issue was even highlighted by US President Donald Trump during his campaign rallies. Meanwhile, egg producers blamed a historic bird flu outbreak that decimated a large portion of the chicken flock.

Price manipulation

The US Department of Justice stated that just days before Christmas 2022, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Hickman's Egg Ranch in Arizona conceived a plan to inflate the industry's benchmark egg price index.

On 19/12/2022, leaders of the three egg producers participated in a call to discuss methods for pushing egg prices higher.

The idea was that if Hickman's and other major egg companies aggressively bid together on the wholesale exchange, they could drive up a key pricing index, thereby impacting the prices consumers paid in stores.

The indictment stated that a member of the alliance suggested the group should bid "like they vote in Chicago, early and often."

The US Department of Justice alleged that immediately after this discussion, Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's collectively placed dozens of bids on the Egg Clearinghouse exchange. Over the following days, the parties continuously exchanged messages and submitted more bids. Consequently, the benchmark setter Urner Barry increased its quoted price for "large white shell eggs" across all regions.

According to the indictment, on 22/12/2022, Hickman's CEO sent other executives an Urner Barry report showing egg prices hitting record highs, accompanied by the message: "Northwest did well today!"

Glenn Hickman, who served as CEO of Hickman's Egg Ranch until the company was sold late last year, declined to comment.

For consumers, egg prices were already very high at the time. A bird flu outbreak killed tens of millions of chickens, causing the wholesale price of large eggs in the Midwest to reach 5.36 USD a dozen by late 2022. Egg prices continued to escalate in 2024 and 2025 due to the persistent disease, leading to panic buying, supermarket purchase limits, and restaurants adding egg surcharges.

Headquartered in Mississippi, Cal-Maine is the largest egg company in the US, supplying over 15 billion eggs annually. Versova consistently ranks in the top 5, while Hickman's is significantly smaller. However, antitrust regulators believe the collusion among these three companies was sufficient to manipulate the US wholesale egg market.

The investigation exposed an obscure aspect of the egg business unknown to most consumers: a complex trading system centered around an online exchange, which antitrust regulators claim can be easily manipulated by experienced traders.

Instead of producing all the eggs they sell, companies often purchase from other suppliers on the Egg Clearinghouse, dubbed "the Wall Street of eggs." Price and transaction data from this exchange are used by Urner Barry, now known as Expana, to establish industry-wide benchmark prices.

Contracts between egg suppliers and stores are often based on the prices set by Urner Barry. Urner Barry's figures impact the prices stores pay for eggs and can influence the prices listed for consumers.

The US Department of Justice's indictment alleges that the leaders of the three companies used similar price manipulation tactics, specifically "spoofing," a deceptive strategy where a trader places buy or sell orders to inflate prices, then cancels them before they are executed.

According to the indictment, in the 12/2022 incident, a Versova executive placed bids to buy eggs in the Northwest region several cents higher than Urner Barry's benchmark price. As other companies began offering eggs to Versova at these higher bid prices, another Versova executive advised to delete those bids.

In 12/2024, as egg prices began to rise following a new bird flu outbreak, Hickman's CEO received a message from a former Cal-Maine CEO stating: "Let's go." Subsequently, these companies began submitting more high-priced bids to the Egg Clearinghouse, none of which were executed.

An egg vendor on a street in the Little Village area of Chicago, Illinois, US, in 5/2025. Photo: AFP

The US Department of Justice stated that these company executives then sought to influence Urner Barry throughout the 2024 holiday season. They requested the company to continuously push nominal prices higher while ignoring bids from other companies.

Settlement agreement

After the US Department of Justice launched a federal investigation in March, listed egg prices sharply declined from their early 2025 peak. This price drop also occurred after the bird flu outbreak was controlled, allowing companies more time to restock flocks amid cooling consumer demand.

According to court documents, Cal-Maine, Hickman's, and Versova agreed to settle civil claims by jointly donating over 50 million eggs to food banks and paying 3.3 million USD to New York and other states participating in the investigation of the alleged misconduct. This agreement still requires court approval.

Cal-Maine denied any wrongdoing. The company stated that the communications cited in the US Department of Justice's indictment did not affect egg prices, asserting that its operations were entirely legal and supported the market.

Versova also denied wrongdoing, stating that settling the allegations allows the company to focus on its business. Meanwhile, Hickman's, now owned by meat processing giant JBS and Brazilian egg supplier Mantiqueira, stated that the alleged conduct occurred before their acquisition in late 2025, but the settlement agreement will definitively resolve all issues.

Vu Hoang (According to WSJ, AFP, Reuters)