Local producer blames ‘big four’ packing plants for beef price hikes
Bradley Davis
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The owner of Ranch Foods Direct said anti-competitive practices from the “big four” packing plants are playing a major part in the nationwide hike of beef prices as the companies, specifically JBS, pay hundreds of millions of dollars in antitrust lawsuits.
“The consumer is really paying the bill right now for what we would call market concentration,” said the owner of Ranch Foods Direct, a local ranch and meat-packing facility.
The settlements, like the recent $83.5 million one paid out by JBS to American ranchers, are for anti-competitive practices. Essentially, ranchers feel the big four companies (JBS, Tyson, Cargill and National Beef) were colluding to squeeze supply and keep prices high. JBS did not admit guilt in the recent lawsuit.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports U.S. cattle totals at an all-time low. At the same time, the USDA reports the largest beef trade deficit in the last 25 years. Now, Callicrate said that President Donald Trump’s tariffs on beef are having an even greater impact on prices.
“President Trump put the tariffs on, which makes imported meat more expensive. So, you have that dual impact of market concentration, unfair market practices, combined with now tariffs that are going to just drive these prices even higher.”
Callicrate said he wishes the tariffs had been implemented sooner to protect the ranchers now out of business.
The Federal Reserve reports that the price of beef has significantly outstripped the average increase in products and services from a year ago.
The average product or service has increased by about 2.6% from a year ago, based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The price of a pound of beef has increased by almost 12% in that same time.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers measures a large number of different products and services to estimate how much the average person is spending, which some use as a strong inflation indicator.