The Biden Administration is charging the meat packing industry with exploitation for elevated beef prices. Beef is certainly not the only industry with rising prices over the past year. In fact, beef inflation looks relatively modest next to the price spikes that have occurred in energy and transportation.
Moreover, the charge is that market power due to the four-firm concentration level in meat packing has been the conduit to being able to significantly raise prices. However, four-firm concentration in the sector has been high for decades. Contrasting industry concentration with annual beef inflation rates raises some questions. For example, why was beef price inflation lower in 1995 than in 1992 when concentration had increased by 1995...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
