Class-action lawsuits have been filed in federal court in Minnesota this week, accusing the nation’s largest sugar producers of violating antitrust law and conspiring to fix prices. The defendants include Edina-based United Sugar Producers and Refiners Cooperative, Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, Wyoming Sugar, Cargill, Domino Sugar, and Michigan Sugar. The lawsuits, brought by Great Harvest Bread in Duluth, Morelos Bakery in St. Paul, and a Connecticut restaurant group, allege that the producers have had an ongoing agreement to artificially raise, fix, stabilize, or maintain granulated sugar prices in the United States since at least 2019.
According to federal data, a pound of white granulated sugar is averaging close to $1 in the U.S., while in Canada, a bag of sugar at a Walmart in Toronto was going for less than $0.50 per pound on Wednesday. The lawsuits also claim that Utah-based company Commodity produced facilitated this ‘conspiracy.’
United Sugar has refuted these claims, calling them baseless. The lawsuits have brought attention to the disparities in sugar prices between the U.S. and Canada, raising concerns about potential price-fixing practices within the industry. The legal proceedings will likely shed light on the alleged antitrust violations and their impact on sugar prices in the country.
