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IANAL, and also too lazy to research the relevant laws for the jurisdiction he's in, but wikipedia[1] says there are usually exceptions for price increases that can be justified.

>Laws often include exceptions for price increases that can be justified in terms of increased cost of supply, transportation, demand or storage

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging#What_the_law_pro...

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Those exceptions are somewhat useful, but they're not enough.

First, he may be in the clear legally, but that doesn't mean he has no legal risk. Some enterprising DA could try to dispute that that his price increases could be justified.

Second, I tried to be precise when I said "anti-price gouging sentiment." Even if it's legal to raise prices, the risk of a public backlash makes it safer to just keep the factory working normal hours. That's a harder problem to fix than bad laws, though.

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