Tell the FTC to investigate corporate egg producers!
Petition to the FTC:
We demand the FTC investigate corporate egg producers for price gouging in the high cost of eggs. It’s clear the companies are exploiting their market dominance to jack up prices through price gouging, price coordination, and other unfair, anti-competitive practices. The FTC must investigate egg producers and get the American people their money back.
Egg prices more than doubled over the past year. Cal-Maine - the giant corporation that dominates egg production under names like Egg-Land's Best, Farmhouse Eggs & Land O'Lake Eggs - claims this increase is due to supply problems.
But last quarter this corporation posted a 65% increase in profits.1 It’s clear that high egg prices are the result of corporate greed and price gouging.
We’ve seen this before: big corporations taking advantage of inflation and the pandemic to rob working people. Now we’re calling on the FTC to investigate the egg industry for price gouging.
The corporate egg producers have tried to deny their price gouging, stating that rising prices are due to an avian flu outbreak. They called their own price increases an “act of God.” But prices were skyrocketing before any reports of avian flu. As farmer advocacy group Farm Action explains, “The real culprit behind this 138% hike in the price of a carton of eggs, appears to be a collusive scheme among industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an avian flu outbreak into an opportunity to extract egregious profits reaching as high as 40%.”2
And it’s not just eggs. Across the economy, we’re seeing mega corporations jack up prices on working people, all while generating historic profits.Chevron, Amazon, Albertsons, Hershey, and others are all making more money than ever, while hurting consumers with higher and higher prices.3
It’s time for Congress to take action to rein in out of control corporate greed. Working people should not be struggling to buy food while corporate CEOs make record setting profits.The FTC needs to investigate corporate egg producers for price gouging.
Sources:
- CNN, "Surging egg prices mean record profits for largest US egg producer,” January 13, 2023.
- Common Dreams, "FTC Urged to Crack Down on Egg Industry's 'Organized Theft,'” January 19, 2023.
- Guardian, “Revealed: top US corporations raising prices on Americans even as profits surge,” April 27, 2022.