Australian billionaire to sell cattle stations
https://www.drovers.com/news/industry/australian-billionaire-sell-cattle-stations
- Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co., Australia’s second-largest beef producer, is planning to sell seven cattle stations across Western Australia and the Northern Territory, along with 108,000 hd. of cattle.
- Gina Rinehart, Australian mining billionaire, owns the Hancock portfolio and is the major shareholder in S. Kidman & Co.
- In 2020, Rinehart topped the Australian Financial Review Rich List with a personal wealth of $28.89 billion.
- The seven cattle stations encompass 4.7 million acres that include a strategically located feeding and export facility, along with a farming operation.
- The agricultural portfolio is hitting the market at an ideal time since Australian cattle prices have surged to record heights with beef demand returning to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Cattle prices are also sky high because of a drought that the country has dealt with in recent years which has caused an extreme shortage of cattle.
Sysco sues Tyson, JBS, Hormel in latest price-fixing development
- Last week, food distributor Sysco filed a lawsuit complaint with the U.S. District Court of Southern Texas accusing U.S. pork producers Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Smithfield Foods, Hormel Foods and others of collaborating in a price-fixing scheme that caused food prices to increase.
- The lawsuit claims that the price-fixing antics go all the way back to 2009.
- These same food-processing companies were entangled in a separate poultry price-fixing lawsuit, in which Tyson Foods settled by paying $221 million and Pilgrim’s Pride was fined $108 million after a guilty plea.
- According to the lawsuit, secret information was shared between meat packers and processors through agricultural databases that contained information about capacity, sales, volume and demand.
- As a result of this, Sysco paid more for pork than it otherwise would have needed to.
- Sysco claims that the pork producers shared information through Agri Stats Inc., saying that affiliates of Smithfield Foods, Clemens Family Corp. and Seaboard Corp. all took part.
- Sysco is seeking treble damages and a jury trial.
- The lawsuit claims that the price-fixing antics go all the way back to 2009.
Alaska files $1 billion poultry price-fixing lawsuit against 21 companies
- During the first week of March, Alaska’s Department of Law filed a $1 billion lawsuit against 21 poultry processors.
- A handful of these processors include, Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Perdue Farms and Foster Farms.
- The lawsuit claims that a cartel of corporate chicken supplier conglomerates secretly engaged in a vast, illegal conspiracy to restrain production, manipulate pricing and rig bids in order to artificially inflate the price of broiler chickens throughout the U.S., including the state of Alaska.
- Alaska is asking for civil penalties up to $50 million against each defendant in the lawsuit. The state is also looking for damages, restitution, attorney fees and costs.
Boxed beef price
- Choice boxed beef: $225.87 (-0.80)
- Select boxed beef: $220.27 (+0.20)