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President Joe Biden understands that families have been facing higher prices at the grocery store recently. Half of those recent increases are from meat prices—specifically, beef, pork, and poultry. While increased consumer demand has 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.
Just four large conglomerates control the majority of the market for each of these three products. The data show that these companies have been raising prices while generating record profits during the pandemic. 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.
Meat constitutes half of the food at home price increases
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”). Together, these three items account for a full half of the price increase for food at home since December 2020. Since that time, prices for beef have risen by 14.0%, pork by 12.1%, and poultry by 6.6%.
"Four large conglomerates overwhelmingly control meat supply chains, driving down earnings for farmers while driving up prices for consumers".
The meat processors are generating record profits during the pandemic at the expense of consumers, farmers, and ranchers
The dynamic of a hyper-consolidated pinch point in
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