The ACCC takes 12 egg businesses to court: what it alleges, and what happens next

In short: In the ACCC egg case, filed in the Federal Court on 13 October, the regulator alleges Sunny Queen and 11 other egg businesses coordinated on production, supply and culling since at least October 2020. These are allegations only. Sunny Queen denies them and says it will defend the case.

The competition regulator has taken some of Australia's biggest egg businesses to court, alleging they worked together on how many eggs to produce, who to supply and when to cull hens, instead of competing.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed civil proceedings in the Federal Court on 13 October against Sunny Queen and 11 other egg producers and suppliers. The ACCC's media release sets out the case. These are allegations. None has been tested in court, and Sunny Queen says it will defend them.

What the ACCC egg case alleges

The ACCC alleges that since at least October 2020, key egg suppliers and producers coordinated on production volumes, distribution, expansion plans and culling to manage what they saw as oversupply, in a way that likely substantially reduced competition for many years.

It names entities including Sunny Queen Pty Ltd, Doug Hall Poultry Pty Ltd, Alpair Pty Ltd trading as McLean Farms, Ellerslie Free Range Farms Pty Ltd and Kinross Farm Pty Ltd. The full list of 12 respondents is in the ACCC's concise statement, the court document that starts the case.

Two specific allegations stand out:

• that Sunny Queen, Hall and McLean Farms coordinated to buy a property in Pittsworth, Queensland, to stop rival egg suppliers acquiring it

• that Sunny Queen restricted how many eggs its rival Kinross could sell, and stopped Kinross selling eggs to Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Metcash or Costco.

The ACCC says the conduct covered free-range, cage and organic eggs.

Why this case is different

It is the first case the ACCC has brought that includes "concerted practice" allegations since that prohibition was added to the Competition and Consumer Act in 2017.

A concerted practice is cooperation between businesses that goes further than each one responding independently to market conditions, without needing every element of a formal agreement or understanding. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told the ABC that it can involve competitors exchanging information regularly in ways that reduce independent decision-making.

The ACCC describes the egg industry as highly concentrated, with a small number of large suppliers and significant barriers for new entrants. According to the regulator, Sunny Queen holds about a third of the national market for supplying eggs to retailers, and Australians eat more than 250 eggs each a year on average.

What the companies say

A Sunny Queen spokesperson told the ABC the company had cooperated fully with the ACCC's investigation, denies the allegations and intends to defend the proceedings. The company said the allegations related to the terms of its agreements with its shareholders and main egg suppliers in Queensland and Victoria, and that it was "business as usual" while the matter is before the courts. The ABC said other named businesses had been contacted for comment.

What happens next?

The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, injunctions and costs. The release notes that maximum penalties depend on when the conduct occurred, because they changed in November 2022 and again in March 2026. Any penalty would be decided by the court if the allegations are proven.

For shoppers, the case does not change egg prices or supply today. It is likely to take time to run its course, and the outcome will depend on what the court finds.

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Cover photo: Evan-Amos via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Cropped to fit.

This story was researched and drafted with the help of an AI assistant from the ACCC release, concise statement and ABC report linked above, then checked and edited by AusLume Media before publication.