Exhibit 610

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Additional Data Analysis Could Enhance Monitoring of U.S. Cattle Market (GAO-18-296)

Exhibit 610 · GAO report

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Additional Data Analysis Could Enhance Monitoring of U.S. Cattle Market (GAO-18-296)

Evidence of this effect alone does not imply that packers engaged in anticompetitive or improper behavior.

GAO modeled 2013-2015 fed cattle transactions. Fed cattle prices in less concentrated areas (HHI at the 25th percentile) may have been about 9 percent higher than in more concentrated areas (75th percentile). GAO found competition levels did not appear to affect the national price change in 2015, reports that the CFTC found no evidence of trading irregularities in cattle futures in 2015, and recommended that USDA review whether Packers and Stockyards staff can get daily transaction data.

Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office
Date: April 2018
Quoted from: p. 16
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-18-296.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding AGR-5.2: Primary record USDA's Economic Research Service attributes the rise in beef and pork packing concentration mostly to larger plants and says mergers played a limited role. ERS also reports that the farm-to-wholesale beef price spread doubled between 2015 and 2019. GAO estimated that fed cattle prices in 2013 to 2015 may have been about 9 percent higher in areas with less packer concentration than in areas with more, and stated that this evidence alone does not imply anticompetitive or improper behavior.