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R-Calf wants National Beef merger blocked

R-Calf USA has asked the US Attorney General to block the proposed acquisition of Iowa Premium by National Beef Packing Company.

Bill Bullard, president of the organization, says the acquisition would reduce competition and harm both independent cattle producers and US consumers.  “We simply need more meatpacking plants,” he says.  “Not fewer.  And rolling Iowa Premium into the Big 4 beef packer cartel that already controls 85 percent of the market would be a huge mistake.”

In 2015, the National Cash Market Volume had fallen below 23 percent.  However, Iowa – was at more than 50 percent. 

Bullard says the competitiveness of the cash market needs to be protected.  “It was Iowa with the higher percentage of cash volume sales that provided adequate price discovery for the industry,” he says. 

He tells Brownfield he doesn’t want what happened in the Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico region to happen elsewhere.  “Where the volume in the cash market fell to less than 3 percent,” he says.  “That means less than 3 percent of the cattle sold are establishing the base price for the hundreds of thousands of cattle they have committed to them through formula contracts.”

Bullard says if the acquisition is approved it will accelerate the decline of smaller to mid-sized beef packing plants and weaken the US cattle industry. 

AUDIO: Bill Bullard, R-Calf USA