Trading house Mitsui & Co. said Thursday its animal feed subsidiary in the United States has agreed to settle a class-action suit lodged by U.S. pig and poultry farmers over sales of feed supplements.
Under the agreement, Novus International Inc. will pay $35 million (4.5 billion yen) to the farmers, Mitsui said in a news release.
In July 1999, the farmers filed the lawsuit with the federal district court in San Francisco, claiming Novus violated U.S. antitrust law while selling methionine, a nutrient added to pig and poultry feed.
Mitsui said the U.S. subsidiary's settlement will not affect its group earnings forecast for the year that ended March 31.