The four largest potato processors in the United States must answer in two separate lawsuits for alleged price fixing. Lamb Weston, McCain Foods, JR Simplot and Cavendish Farms are said to have illegally fixed prices for French fries, hash browns and other frozen potato products. That is at least what the American supermarket chain Redner's Markets claims.
In the second lawsuit, Potatoes USA (the trade association) is also being sued in addition to the four processors mentioned. This case also revolves around alleged illegal price fixing and market manipulation in frozen potato products. From the court documents published by Reuters it turns out that the four companies control a significant share of the US frozen potato products market (worth $68 billion).
Potato Cartel
According to the plaintiffs, the potato processors were able to actively influence the market by sharing commercially sensitive information with each other via a third party. The subsidiary PotatoTrac of data agency Circana is named as a third party in the documents. The National Potato Promotion Board (NPPB), which falls under Potatoes USA, is also named. "Armed with each other's price data and other sensitive information and with a direct line of communication, the cartel members were able to jointly drive up prices, thereby harming all buyers of frozen potato products," the plaintiffs claim.
The price of frozen potato products in the US increased by 2022% between July 2024 and July 47. During the same period, the cost of inputs decreased significantly. According to Redner's Markets, the price increase was a direct result of coordinated actions by potato processors.