{"id":3880,"date":"2026-09-04T19:35:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3880"},"modified":"2026-09-04T19:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:35:19","slug":"doj-expands-beef-price-probe-to-walmart-and-amazon-with-inflation-as-a-key-midterms-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3880","title":{"rendered":"DOJ expands beef price probe to Walmart and Amazon with inflation as a key midterms issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-1165786294-e1788546292113.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Justice now wants to know whether eight of the country\u2019s largest grocery retailers can be blamed for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal investigators are scrutinizing Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Aldi and Ahold Delhaize USA for beef affordability, with the DOJ calling beef prices a \u201cpriority\u201d for the agency in a Sept. 1 X post announcing the probe.\u00a0 The retailers and the DOJ did not respond to <em>Fortune<\/em>\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration has zeroed in on tamping down beef prices, as the cost of staples like ground beef shape how consumers judge inflation, a key issue for voters ahead of the midterms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new probe into retailers seems to build on the department\u2019s antitrust investigation into meatpackers that launched in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump asked the DOJ to probe meatpackers over beef prices in November, accusing them of \u201cdriving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.\u201d He scrapped 40% tariffs on Brazilian beef the same month, and announced last month a plan to allow 300,000 metric tons of it into the country without being subject to out-of-quota tariffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The administration also tried other ways to ease prices. It started importing beef from Argentina, which drew backlash from American ranchers who said the move would introduce disease risks to domestic cattle and do little for grocery prices. The Trump administration also started allowing some imports of Mexican livestock back in on Aug. 24 after having barred them in July when Mexican cattle tested positive for screwworm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the meatpackers have struggled financially. Tyson announced it\u2019s closing two beef plants and selling a third one on Aug. 13 a week after reporting a $138 million operating loss in its beef segment. JBS, headquartered in Brazil, halted beef processing at its Pennsylvania plant a day after Tyson\u2019s announcement, having reported a $279 million adjusted operating loss for its North American beef.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump announced last week that he\u2019s allowing ranchers to process meat themselves, but it\u2019s unclear how he plans to alter meat processing regulations. Ranchers can process their own meat for personal use but can\u2019t sell it unless it meets strict safety and sanitation standards and undergoes inspections.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other factors hiking up beef prices\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Herd size is a big factor in making beef costlier. Farmers had 86.2 million cattle and calves at the start of this year, the lowest number since 1951, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is because the costs of maintaining a herd\u2014feed, fertilizer and equipment\u2014have gone up as a result of tariffs and drought, so fewer farmers breed cows for slaughter, which restricts beef supply. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While cow-calf ranchers, who supply cows for the entire industry, are able to raise prices and mint fortunes, other farmers are stuck buying more expensive cattle and face slimming margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another hurdle is the time it takes for cows to reproduce and be ready for slaughter. Heifers are bred from between 12 to 15 months of age, and calves have a gestation period just under a year before staying up to 10 months with their mothers. Then farmers face the choice between keeping calves for more breeding stock to rebuild the herd or sending them to beef production.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But farmers know this biological cycle and can handle it without market interference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re not asking for anything,\u201d Derrell Peel, a professor of agribusiness specializing in livestock at Oklahoma State University, told <em>Fortune<\/em> last year. \u201cBasically, they just want everybody to get out of the market and let it do what it does.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#DOJ #expands #beef #price #probe #Walmart #Amazon #inflation #key #midterms #issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Justice now &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[754,3133,416,273,679,176,3858,2559,1921,100,2302,952],"class_list":["post-3880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-amazon","tag-beef","tag-doj","tag-donald-trump","tag-expands","tag-inflation","tag-issue","tag-key","tag-midterms","tag-price","tag-probe","tag-walmart"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - 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