USDA report shows increasing concentration in meatpacking industry

A new report from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows the meatpacking industry has consolidated substantially in the past 40 years. In its Concentration and Competition in U.S. Agribusiness report, ERS notes that 34% of pork was processed by the four largest companies in 1980, but by 2019 that share had nearly doubled to 67%. The trend was even more pronounced for steers and heifers, rising from 36% to 85% concentration, with almost all of the increase occurring between 1980 and 1995. Data from poultry producers only goes back to 1995 but shows much less-pronounced consolidation than…