US Widens Beef-Price Antitrust Inquiry to Walmart, Costco and Other Retailers

The department’s Antitrust Division expanded the inquiry to eight retailers — Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Albertsons, Aldi, Ahold Delhaize, Costco and Amazon — according to Fox Business.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. sent letters to the companies concerning recent increases in retail beef prices, Fox Business reported. The action extends an investigation that had previously focused on the country’s dominant meat processors.

The Justice Department began examining JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods and National Beef earlier this year. The agency has said those four companies account for more than 85% of U.S. beef processing, according to Fox Business.

The widening inquiry puts federal attention on another stage of the supply chain at a time when consumers are paying substantially more for beef and policymakers are debating whether industry concentration, constrained cattle supplies or other factors are responsible.

The Justice Department said it has reviewed more than 3 million documents and interviewed participants in the cattle and beef industries as part of its investigation into possible antitrust violations, according to Fox Business.

The department has described beef affordability as a priority for federal enforcement officials. Fox Business said it sought additional information from the Justice Department as well as responses from each of the eight retailers named in the expanded inquiry.

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The investigation is unfolding against an unusually tight supply backdrop. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the U.S. cattle and calf population stood at roughly 86.2 million as of Jan. 1, a level she described as the lowest since the 1950s, according to Fox Business.

Read more: Trump Weighs Beef Deregulation Amid Meatpacking Antitrust Scrutiny

Recent government inflation data have also shown substantial increases at the meat counter. Beef prices were up 11.8% from a year earlier in June, while ground beef rose 12.4% and steak prices increased 11.4%, Fox Business reported separately in August, citing Consumer Price Index data.

The supply squeeze has affected processors as well as consumers. Tyson Foods said in August that its beef division posted a $138 million operating loss as constrained cattle supplies pushed input costs higher and reduced sales volume, according to Fox Business.

Federal officials are nonetheless examining whether competitive practices in the industry have also played a role in prices. Attorney General Todd Blanche has encouraged industry insiders to provide information to investigators and said qualifying whistleblowers could receive a portion of penalties resulting from successful enforcement actions, Fox Business reported.

The investigation has also become part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to address beef affordability. President Donald Trump recently said his administration would prepare measures intended to make it easier for farmers and ranchers to process their own livestock, according to Fox Business.

That push followed criticism from cattle producers and some Republican lawmakers over a separate administration proposal to temporarily permit as much as 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef to enter the U.S. tariff-free. The administration has presented additional imports as one way to relieve pressure on consumers, while some domestic producers have objected to the policy, Fox Business reported.

Source: Fox Business