Competition record
Archer Daniels Midland
Deep profile · 1 linked library matter
Archer Daniels Midland processes grain and sells feed ingredients. Under this library id it is the ADM that pleaded guilty in the mid-1990s US lysine cartel.
Overview
Archer Daniels Midland buys corn, oilseeds, and other crops and turns them into oils, sweeteners, starches, and animal feed. Lysine is an amino acid mixed into feed so livestock get a nutrient the grain alone does not supply in the right amount.
In the mid-1990s ADM and Asian fermentation rivals pleaded guilty to fixing lysine prices and allocating volumes. The meetings became a famous criminal case, with recorded discussions of target prices and how much each producer would sell.
Corporate fines in the lysine prosecutions were over $100 million, and executives went to prison. This library id is that US lysine matter. The citric-acid cartel is a different id.
Competition footprint
Feed mills and livestock producers buy lysine as an input, so a fixed price lands in the cost of meat and poultry.
Volume allocation meant a producer did not have to win business by cutting price.
The library status is fined, covering corporate fines and prison for executives.
Consumer & business angle
Farmers and feed companies paid the coordinated lysine price.
Ajinomoto and Kyowa Hakko are the Japanese fermentation companies in the same guilty pleas.
What to watch
- How compliance training still uses the lysine meetings as the example of a criminal price fix.
- Follow-on civil claims by feed buyers, which sit outside the criminal fines already recorded.
Markets
grain processing · animal feed · lysine · lysine feed additives · animal nutrition
Also known as: adm, archer daniels midland