Australia’s biggest egg supplier Sunny Queen and 11 other egg producers and suppliers are alleged to have breached competition laws by coordinating on production and supply of eggs in Australia, in civil proceedings filed in the Federal Court by the ACCC today.
It is alleged that since at least October 2020 key egg suppliers and producers coordinated on a range of business decisions including production volumes, distribution, expansion plans and culling to manage perceived oversupply, in a way that likely substantially reduced competition for many years.
The case includes concerted practice allegations. This is the first case brought by the ACCC to include concerted practice allegations since the prohibition was introduced in 2017. A concerted practice involves cooperation between businesses that goes beyond them acting independently in response to market conditions.
The proceedings involve allegations against entities including Sunny Queen Pty Ltd (Sunny Queen), Doug Hall Poultry Pty Ltd (Hall), Alpair Pty Ltd trading as McLean Farms (McLean Farms), Ellerslie Free Range Farms Pty Ltd (Ellerslie) and Kinross Farm Pty Ltd (Kinross).
Each of these entities is alleged to have engaged in cartel conduct and are also alleged to have engaged in a concerted practice with the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially reducing competition. A full list of company names for the 12 entities the subject of the proceedings is available in the ACCC’s concise statement.
“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. This alleged conduct is extremely serious, which is why we have commenced this Federal Court action,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
“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.”
The ACCC alleges that the egg industry is highly concentrated, with a small number of large suppliers and significant barriers to entry and expansion.
Eggs are an important consumer staple, with Australians consuming an annual average of over 250 eggs per person.
The alleged conduct related to the production and supply of eggs including free-range, cage and organic eggs.
“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.”
“We are committed to protecting competition in fresh food supply chains so Australian consumers receive the benefits of businesses competing on price,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“These proceedings are a reminder that businesses must make their production, supply and pricing decisions independently.”
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, injunctions, costs and other orders.
Anti-competitive conduct
Contracts, arrangements, understandings and concerted practices that have the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition in a market are prohibited under the Competition and Consumer Act.
A concerted practice involves communication or cooperation between businesses that does not require all the elements of what is considered an “understanding” under the Act, but that involves more than businesses independently responding to market conditions.
More information about anti-competitive behaviour is available on the ACCC website.
The ACCC works to detect alleged cartels including through education programs, proactive intelligence gathering and data assessment and working with overseas counterparts to identify alleged cartels that operate on a global level.
Anyone who thinks they may be involved in alleged cartel conduct is urged to call the ACCC Cartel Immunity Hotline on (02) 9230 3894. More information about the immunity process is available on the ACCC website at Cartels. They can also report alleged cartel conduct by using the anonymous cartel portal(link is external)
Background
Sunny Queen is the largest egg supplier in Australia, holding approximately a third of the market for the supply of eggs to retailers nationally. Sunny Queen acquires, markets and distributes eggs throughout Australia. Sunny Queen is currently jointly owned by Ellerslie and McLean Farms. Sunny Queen has warehouse and distribution facilities in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia
During the relevant period, Hall, and companies sharing common ownership with that company, was a large egg producer headquartered in Queensland. DHP Consolidated Pty Ltd was the parent company of several companies that produced eggs, which included Ellerslie. In 2024, following a restructuring, Ellerslie became the holding company for the production subsidiaries. Hall held 50% of the shares in Sunny Queen which were subsequently acquired by Ellerslie. These entities operate farms in Queensland including in Yandilla, Turralin and Punchs Creek.
McLean Farms is a large egg producer headquartered in Queensland. McLean Farms operates farms in Queensland and Victoria including at Pittsworth, Felton and Pinerow.
Kinross is a large egg producer headquartered in Victoria, operating farms in locations including Euroa and Carisbrook.
The details of the ACCC’s allegations and the respondents are set out in the concise statement below.
Note
The maximum penalties applicable to the alleged conduct depend on when the conduct occurred. These penalties changed in November 2022 and in March 2026.
Concise statement
261013 ACCC v Sunny Queen – Concise Statement
( PDF 298.17 KB )
This document contains the ACCC’s initiating court document in relation to this matter. We will not be uploading further documents in the event that this initial document is subsequently amended.
