By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Stocks of Pilgrims Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) and Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) traded lower Friday after a report in The Wall Street Journal said the Justice Department is investigating whether poultry companies engaged in anticompetitive sharing about employment practices that capped plant workers’ wages.
Pilgrims Pride fell 5% while Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meatpacker, fell 2%. Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ:SAFM) was down 1.4%.
The Justice Department has been keeping a watch on practices in the industry to find evidence of price fixing. Representatives of farmers have accused meat companies of exploiting their market power to keep livestock prices artificially low.
Workers at meat plants have alleged that their employers conspired to exchange compensation data to hold down employee wages.
According to WSJ, plaintiffs in a case in Maryland federal court allege industry officials used data exchanges and annual events to compare staff benefits.
The meat industry has been fighting surging costs for more than a year, which is what they cite to defend higher prices and shortages.
Major supermarket operators and distributors have also filed civil suits alleging anticompetitive pricing by producers of meat.