Justice allows mill merger with divestitures
May 21, 2014 | 07:05 PM
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will allow ConAgra Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., CHS Inc., and Horizon Milling LLC to proceed with the formation of Ardent Mills, a flour milling joint venture, but only after the companies divest themselves of four other competitively significant mills.
The department said the divestitures will preserve flour milling competition in the Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis and San Francisco/Oakland Bay regions, resulting in more competitive prices for wheat flour purchasers and ultimately lower prices for consumers.
Ardent Mills would combine the milling assets of ConAgra Mills, a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods, and Horizon Milling, a joint venture between Cargill and CHS.
Food & Water Watch, a consumer group, decried the DOJ decision and the merger.
“The meager divestment required by the Justice Department still leaves the proposed Ardent joint venture with unassailable market control over flour sales in the Northeast, controlling five out of seven flour mills that serve the New York to Boston population corridor,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
“Shedding just two mills, as required by the DOJ, in the Great Plains (one in Minnesota and one in Texas) will still allow the new firm to have a stranglehold over most wheat farmers from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River.”
The department said the divestitures will preserve flour milling competition in the Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis and San Francisco/Oakland Bay regions, resulting in more competitive prices for wheat flour purchasers and ultimately lower prices for consumers.
Ardent Mills would combine the milling assets of ConAgra Mills, a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods, and Horizon Milling, a joint venture between Cargill and CHS.
Food & Water Watch, a consumer group, decried the DOJ decision and the merger.
“The meager divestment required by the Justice Department still leaves the proposed Ardent joint venture with unassailable market control over flour sales in the Northeast, controlling five out of seven flour mills that serve the New York to Boston population corridor,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
“Shedding just two mills, as required by the DOJ, in the Great Plains (one in Minnesota and one in Texas) will still allow the new firm to have a stranglehold over most wheat farmers from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River.”
