Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Issues Response to Texas Attorney General

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[{"type":"text","content":" JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nCal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) today issued the following response to a state of Texas lawsuit alleging that the Company has engaged in price-gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic:\n\n\nCal-Maine Foods strongly denies these allegations and will vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit.\n\n\nCal-Maine has not exploited this tragic national pandemic for gain. Cal-Maine Foods is the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the United States and sells the majority of its shell eggs in states across the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western and mid-Atlantic regions. The Company’s 3,490+ employees have worked hard during this crisis to meet increased consumer demand. In doing so, Cal-Maine Foods has not changed its longstanding approach to pricing. Any allegation to the contrary is simply not true.\n\n\nThere has always been great volatility in the egg pricing market. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive disruption in every sector of the economy, including the egg industry. Retail demand for eggs reached historically high levels and egg prices increased significantly in line with those demand trends. However, egg prices have since declined quickly to pre-COVID-19 levels.\n\n\nThe domestic egg market is intensely competitive and highly volatile even under normal market circumstances. For decades, like other egg producers, Cal-Maine Foods has priced egg sales based on a model utilizing independent, third-party market quotes published by Urner Barry, the leading provider of protein market news and information for the food industry. This market pricing methodology can be viewed at https://www.urnerbarry.com/Methodology/UB_Methodology_EGG_20191003.pdf. Since the mid-1800s, Urner Barry has been the standard medium through which buyers and sellers gauge fair market value across the supply chain. Importantly, the Urner Barry-based pricing model is mutually agreed to by our customers. Cal-Maine Foods has always been consistent in our pricing practices, whether we sell at a profit or a loss. Cal-Maine Foods has hewed to those practices and its longstanding customer agreements throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n\nEgg prices can fluctuate on a weekly and even daily basis and are also subject to seasonal changes in demand. (See table on page 2 for recent egg prices). This is why egg...

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