CANBERRA, ACT. — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed civil proceedings in the Federal Court against Sunny Queen – the country’s largest egg supplier – and 11 other egg producers, including Kinross Farm, Pace Farm Eggs, McLean Farms and Doug Hall Poultry.
The ACCC alleges that companies have co-ordinated on a range of business decisions that “likely substantially reduced competition for many years” since October 2020.
Some of the alleged conduct includes production volumes, expansion plans and culling to manage perceived oversupply.
The ACCC alleges that the egg industry is highly concentrated, with a small number of large suppliers and significant barriers to entry and expansion.
Twelve egg production companies have also been accused of engaging in cartel conduct, and have allegedly engaged in a concerted practice with the purpose of reducing competition.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the alleged conduct was “extremely serious”.
“Our investigation has uncovered alleged widespread anti-competitive conduct in the egg industry that we allege has impacted the supply of eggs to Australian consumers since at least 2020,” she said.
“This alleged conduct is extremely serious, which is why we have commenced this Federal Court action.”
“Fair competition in the supply of fresh food such as eggs is extremely important. Anti-competitive conduct disadvantages Australian consumers, who can face reduced choice and higher prices, as well as those businesses seeking to compete fairly or who are seeking to enter markets to provide competing supply.”
She said fair competition in the supply of fresh foods such as eggs is “extremely important”.
“These companies are alleged to have coordinated in a range of decisions about their business operations, including the retailers each business could supply, what volumes they could produce and when to cull birds to manage periods of perceived over-supply,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“We allege this coordination between Sunny Queen, Hall and McLean Farms extended to purchasing a property in Pittsworth, Queensland, for the purpose of preventing its acquisition by rival egg suppliers. We also allege this had the effect of substantially lessening competition.”
“We also allege that Sunny Queen restricted how many eggs its rival Kinross could sell to customers, and prevented Kinross from selling its eggs to Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Metcash or Costco.”
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, injunctions, costs and other orders.
In a statement, Sunny Queen said the company had fully cooperated with the ACCC during its investigation.
“Sunny Queen denies the allegations and intends to defend the proceedings,” a spokesman said.
Eggs are an important consumer staple, with Australians consuming an annual average of over 250 eggs per person.
Kinross Farm of Kinglake West, Victoria, was sold to Pace Farm in January 2025.
“In 2025, Pace Farm strengthened its position as a leader in the Australian egg industry through the acquisition of Kinross Farms, one of Victoria’s most respected egg producers,” Pace Farm said in 2025.
