Largest US egg seller reports record profits amid DOJ investigation

The largest American seller of eggs reported enormous profits as bird flu sent prices to record highs

and now reveals it's cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into price fixing

Cal Maine Foods reported a net income of nearly $510 million Tuesday from December through February

a nearly 250 percent increase from the same time period a year before

The company attributes an 80% increase in the average price of eggs from last year for the rise in profits

The company's earnings rose as egg prices climbed to record highs in February

and as farms were forced to slaughter roughly 30 million birds. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the price of a dozen grade-A large eggs rose to its highest level in more than a decade

The CEO of CalMain tells the Financial Times the company came out on the winning end by, quote

maximizing production through a period of high demand and recent acquisitions, which helped increase our production capacity in this challenging environment The results come as an investigation by the DOJ announced last month is looking into whether CalMain and other companies engaged in price

fixing. Advocacy groups for independent farmers accused the company and other large egg sellers

of price gouging as egg prices reportedly fell from record highs of nearly nine dollars a dozen

to just under four dollars a dozen last week. CalMain, however, notes it made significant progress

toward the tail end of the U.S. egg shortage by increasing its amount of layer hens by 14 percent

and investing in safety measures against avian flu. CalMain has dropped prices amid the DOJ probe

and says it's cooperating with the investigation. This is not the company's first run-in with legal

trouble. In 2023, CalMain and other egg producers were found guilty of price fixing in order to pay

out more than $50 million. U.S. officials recently announced Americans should see falling prices

for eggs as supply recovers and purchase limits are lifted. For more unbiased updates

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