That means that the prices the processors pay to ranchers aren’t increasing, but the prices collected by processors from retailers are going up. During the pandemic, wholesale prices for beef rose much faster than input prices for cattle. The dynamic of a hyper-consolidated pinch point in the supply chain raises real questions about pandemic profiteering. The meat-processors are generating record profits during the pandemic, at the expense of consumers, farmers, and ranchers. Absent this corporate consolidation, prices would be lower for consumers and fairer for farmers and ranchers. There’s a long history of these giant meat processors making more and more, while families pay more at the grocery store and farmers and ranchers earn less for their products. That consolidation gives these middlemen the power to squeeze both consumers and farmers and ranchers. And in pork, the top four hog-processing firms controlled 33% of the market in 1976, compared to 66% today. In poultry, the top four processing firms controlled 35% of the market in 1986, compared to 54% today. In 1977, the largest four beef-packing firms controlled just 25% of the market, compared to 82% today. That reflects dramatic consolidation of the industry over the last five decades, as the large conglomerates have absorbed more and more smaller processors. Today, just four firms control approximately 55-85% of the market for these three products, according to U.S.
Since that time, prices for beef have risen by 14.0%, pork by 12.1%, and poultry by 6.6%.
#Meat production full
Together, these three items account for a full half of the price increase for food at home since December 2020. Large price increases for beef, pork, and poultry are driving the recent price increases consumers are seeing at the grocery store (a measure commonly known as “food at home”). Meat constitutes half of food at home price increases. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration is taking bold action to enforce the antitrust laws, boost competition in meat-processing, and push back on pandemic profiteering that is hurting consumers, farmers, and ranchers across the country. Just four large conglomerates control the majority of the market for each of these three products, and the data show that these companies have been raising prices while generating record profits during the pandemic. While factors like increased consumer demand have played a role, the price increases are also driven by a lack of competition at a key bottleneck point in the meat supply chain: meat-processing. Half of those recent increases are from meat prices-specifically, beef, pork, and poultry. The President understands that families have been facing higher prices at the grocery store recently.
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