The White House is criticizing high profits reported by the large meat-packing companies, saying they ought to share the wealth with their farmer-suppliers.
National Economic Council Director Brian Deese pointed to a tripling of profits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an analysis published on the White House website, Deese said meat price are the biggest contributor to the rising cost of groceries, in part because just a few large corporations dominate meat processing.
Deese said the November Consumer Price Index data demonstrates that meat prices are still the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home. Beef, pork, and poultry price increases make up a quarter of the overall increase in food-at-home prices last month.
National Economic Council officials studied earnings statements from Tyson Foods, the chicken producer and biggest U.S. meat company by sales; Brazil-based JBS SA, the world's biggest meatpacker; Brazilian beef producer Marfrig Global Foods SA which owns most of National Beef Packing Company; and Seaboard Corp RIC.
Those statements showed a 120 per cent collective jump in their gross profits since the pandemic and a 500 per cent increase in net income, the analysis shows.
These companies recently announced $1 billion in new dividends and stock buybacks, on top of the more than $3 billion they paid to shareholders since the pandemic began.
In a statement, The North American Meat Institute called that analysis “another desperate attempt by the White House to shift blame for record food inflation to the meat and poultry industry.”
