Unsealed antitrust complaint reveals key factor in high food prices: corporate behemoths

[mysteryowl]

With high grocery prices continuing to squeeze Minnesotans, a newly unsealed antitrust complaint provides a path towards relief.

The complaint is a revealing look at the way big retailers can wield their power over food manufacturers to drive up prices — while crushing competitors. The lawsuit also underscores that if Minnesota legislators are going to effectively address sticker shock at the grocery store, they must address the consolidation that has a stranglehold over the industry.

A judge recently ordered that an antitrust complaint against PepsiCo that was brought by the Federal Trade Commission under the Biden administration, but dropped earlier this year by the Trump Administration, be unsealed and made available to the public.

The complaint provides a unique look at price discrimination in practice, which involves charging retailers different prices for the same good, often at the behest of powerful retailers. That practice is a violation of an antitrust law known as the Robinson-Patman Act.

For the past decade, according to the unsealed complaint, Walmart has used its immense power to demand promotional payments and allowances from Pepsi that have kept prices of soft drinks lower than other retailers. Walmart has also used Pepsi to help it monitor prices of soft drinks at competing retailers. When the gap between Walmart and others is too low, Pepsi limits allowances and raises wholesale prices for those companies. “Rather than simply working with Walmart to reduce prices, Pepsi’s actions have had the effect of raising prices for customers of competing retailers,” the complaint says.

https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/12/18/unsealed-antitrust-complaint-reveals-key-factor-in-high-food-prices-corporate-behemoths/

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