Beef Industry: Packer Market Concentration and Cattle Prices

Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the impact of recent mergers by beef packers, focusing on whether the resulting market dominance could allow larger packers to pay lower cattle prices.

Full Report

Full Report (30 pages)

Office of Public Affairs

Chuck Young

Managing Director

youngc1@gao.gov

(202) 512-4800

Topics

Agriculture and Food

CattleCommodity marketingCompetitionCorporate mergersCost analysisLivestock productsMeat packing industryMicroeconomic analysisPrice adjustmentsPrices and pricing