Bipartisan pair of senators request antitrust probe into meatpacking industry

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to open an antitrust investigation into the meatpacking industry and its potential to cause significant disruptions in the food supply chain. The senators note that the beef industry is dominated by Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS S.A. and Smithfield Foods, which processes 85 percent of all U.S. beef. Three multinational companies, Tyson Foods from the U.S., JBS from Brazil and Smithfield from China, process 63 percent of all U.S. pork products. “Following a spate of COVID-19 infections among plant workers, in recent days these oligopolistic companies have closed three pork plants indefinitely, resulting in the shutdown of a staggering 15 percent of America’s pork production,” the senators wrote to the FTC, referring to Smithfield plants in Missouri, Wisconsin and South Dakota that have closed due to coronavirus outbreaks. The letter comes a day after President Trump signed an executive order, using the Defense Production Act to order meat and poultry processing plants to stay open in an effort to prevent further disruptions to the food supply. “We write to urge you to exercise that authority to investigate the growing concentration in the meatpacking and processing industry, and any anticompetitive behavior resulting from this concentration,” the senators wrote...MORE

Here we go again. While I have doubts about the calls for stronger anti-trust legislation, let's call this for what it is - a tried and true stalling tactic. Politicians write letters, a study is conducted which will be inconclusive, eventually prices will return and the controversy goes away...until the next downturn in prices.