A second company has sued the three biggest producers and distributors of canned tuna in the United States, alleging the companies conspired to fix prices.
Groservice Inc., otherwise known as
Together, the companies control much of the canned and pouched tuna industry in the United States, a situation the suit described as “this oligopolistic structure within the company.”
“(PITCO) directly purchased (tuna products) from one or more of the defendants and has suffered pecuniary injury as a result of the antitrust violation alleged herein,” the company’s lawyer, Mark Labaton, of Los Angeles, wrote in the suit.
The company describes trends in seafood consumption, showing that consumption of canned and pouched tuna has declined.
“Given this decline in consumption of the signature (tuna products), one would expect rational businesses to reduce the prices for (the products), but that did not happen,” Labaton wrote in the suit.
The suit alleges there were multiple opportunities for the companies in question to collaborate and work together toward a situation that was good for them financially, but bad for everyone else.
“There are economic indications that support the conclusion that there was collusive pricing within the domestic (packaged tuna) industry.”
The lawsuit did not specify a figure, but said
The suit follows a similar lawsuit a New York-based wholesaler filed earlier this month. That lawsuit also accused all three tuna providers of colluding to fix prices, and that the wholesaler also suffered as a result.
