Why Beef Price Varies From Market to Market
Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated to right the apply of fat versus feeder cattle, and to include marketplace prices for alive cattle.
The claim: There'southward no shortage of beef, merely consumers pay more while cattle farmers lose money
Are consumers paying more than for beef while farmers lose money?
That claim appears in a mail service May 22 by Facebook user Rick Davis. Meat processing companies such as Tyson Foods, JBS, National Beef and Cargill are "stealing" from cattle farmers by paying less for beef while charging more to the consumer, he said.
Davis claimed that the sale toll of "fat," or live cattle dropped from $1.55 a pound to 91 cents a pound during an unspecified time frame. Withal corporations blame the ascension toll of meat at grocery stores on shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Davis wrote.
"There IS NO Beef SHORTAGE!! Someone is profiting huge off the backs of Farmers and sticking it to the consumer on the other stop!!!? THIS IS A TRAVESTY AND NEEDS TO STOP!!" Davis wrote.
USA TODAY could non reach Davis for comment.
Is in that location a beefiness shortage?
The beef manufacture has taken a hit in recent months because of business organisation closures, stay-at-home orders in many states and quarantines during the coronavirus outbreak.
United states of america TODAY reported that the number of coronavirus cases tied to meatpacking plants passed x,000 in early May, preceding shutdowns of at least 40 meat slaughtering and processing plants for several weeks.
Beef and pork processing was reduced past 40% from last year, co-ordinate to The Associated Printing. The number of meat items bachelor for buy was express as a effect, the Milwaukee Journal Sentry reported.
Are consumers really paying more for cheaper beef?
The 52-week low for live cattle prices was 81 cents a pound, according to Business organization Insider.
In the past 6 months, live cattle prices dropped from $1.27 a pound in Jan to 90 cents a pound on April xxx, the last date recorded, Business Insider reported.
Consumer market place prices for uncooked ground beef rose by 38 cents a pound, all uncooked beef roasts rose past $1.17 a pound and all uncooked beef steaks rose by a dollar a pound from April to May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Where's the beef ... and the chicken? Should we worry about a meat shortage?
Investigating the difference
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue acknowledged the discrepancy in subcontract-to-market beef prices in a tweet April 8 and committed to an investigation.
"(USDA'south) Packers and Stockyards Partitioning will exist extending our oversight to decide the causes of divergence between box and live beef prices, starting time with the Holcomb Burn in KS concluding summer and now with COVID-xix," Perdue tweeted.
"Holcomb Fire" refers to a fire that ravaged a Tyson meatpacking constitute in Holcomb, Kansas. The plant produced about 5% of the nation'due south beef, according to KCUR News.
Dirk Fillpot, a communication coordinator for the USDA, said the agency is nevertheless monitoring the situation months after Perdue'due south statement.
"USDA is actively monitoring all nutrient and agriculture commodity markets and the food supply chain during the COVID-19 outbreak. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service continues to monitor market conditions and conduct economic analysis on the poultry and livestock industry," Fillpot wrote in an electronic mail.
Twenty senators and 11 state attorneys general requested federal investigations into market manipulation by the meat industry, Politico reported.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is one of the eleven attorneys general who signed a letter of the alphabet to U.Southward. Attorney General Bill Barr asking the Department of Justice for an investigation. Other signers included Attorneys General Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Tim Fob of Montana.
"The underlying frustration of many cattle producers and feeders boils down to this: Why are they beingness paid significantly less for live cattle when consumers are paying more for beefiness on the grocer's shelf? It is a reasonable question that deserves a review and fully informed answer," Schmidt said, according to a news release May 28.
Brianna Herlihy, a public diplomacy officer for the DOJ, told Us TODAY via email, "Consistent with department policy, we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation."
Our rating: Partly fake
We rate this claim PARTLY FALSE, based on our research. It is true that there is a difference in the prices consumers pay for meat at grocery stores and the prices for cattle being paid to farmers. The federal government is investigating potential marketplace manipulation past meat processing companies. It is false to declare there is no meat shortage. Processing establish shutdowns during the coronavirus outbreak have significantly cut the amount of beef and pork processed this year.
Our fact-check sources:
- United states TODAY: Meatpacking industry hits grim milestone of 10,000 coronavirus cases linked to plants
- Associated Press: Meat shortage caused by virus could hurt supply
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Get set up for higher prices at the grocery store. It's COVID-xix's fault
- Business Insider: Alive cattle article price information
- U.S. Agency of Labor Statistics: Boilerplate retail nutrient and energy prices
- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, tweet April 8
- KCUR News: A welding torch triggered a Kansas meatpacking plant fire and a toll spike followed
- Politico: 'Something isn't right': U.Due south. probes soaring beef prices
- Kansas Attorney Full general Dereck Schmidt, letter May 28 to U.South. Chaser General William Barr
- Office of Kansas Attorney General, news release May 28
Contributing: The Associated Press
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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/05/fact-check-farmers-paid-less-consumers-pay-more-amid-beef-shortage/5311455002/
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