Cargill and price fixing
While protesting its innocence of the charges, agribusiness giant Cargill settled a civil lawsuit that claimed that the company and its rivals conspired to fix the prices for high-fructose corn syrup. The company paid $34 million to get out of the long-running case without admitting anything. The plaintiffs include around thirty large food companies, including Coca Cola and Pepsico, which use the syrup to flavor their soft drinks. According to the Wall Street Journal, ("Cargill Agreed to Pay $24 Million To Settle Civil Price Fixing Suit", 3/11/2004) high-fructose corn syrup is a $2 billion market and accounts for around 50% of all sweetening used in the US food industry.
The civil suit held on even after the US government dropped its lawsuit against Cargill, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), and A.E. Staley Manufacturing (a division of UK company Tate & Lyle) , who are accused of conspiring. ADM and Staley are still facing a trial.
The wheels of antitrust suit spin very slowly. The price-fixing at issue happened some eight years ago and the trial, if it happens, won't take place until this September. Even if the plaintiffs win, there will appeals. By this time, all the companies have undergone so many changes that they hardly resemble what they were years ago, for better or worse. In the end, the lesson is that defending yourself against price -fixing is more of an annoyance that a real jeopardy. In addition, unless the government is proactively antitrust, only victims of price fixing that are themselves well-heeled oligopolies can hope to last out the legal manuevering.
10:20:37 PM 
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