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Beef meatpacking two-anchor observed comparison1995 81.0% to 2019 85.0%, a increase of +4.00 pp. The vertical placement is normalized to this two-point comparison and is not a shared scale.PRIOR ANCHORLATEST ANCHOR

Canonical research dossier

Q30 / Defined markets / Share accounting

Which participant-share changes account for the structural movement, and are the denominator and coverage stable across both anchors?

Beef meatpacking / Four-participant concentration ratio
1995
81.0%
prior anchor
Observed change
+4.00 pp
24 years
2019
85.0%
latest anchor
Current custody
1
source record
Observed comparisonExact values, periods, metric, unit, and universe stay attached.
Research questionThe monitor question is preserved verbatim as a bounded program of inquiry.
Evidence to collectDeclared requests are future work, not established evidence or findings.
Evidence standard

Published signal

The observation behind the question

Latest observed anchor versus the immediately preceding observed anchor; intervening years are not estimated.
199581.0%prior
+4.00 ppIncrease
201985.0%latest
Observed signalBeef meatpacking moved from 81.0% in 1995 to 85.0% in 2019 (+4.00 percentage points).

The latest encoded CR4 anchor is higher within this documented market series. The change alone does not identify a cause or establish competitive harm.

This is a within-profile comparison governed by the documented usda-reported share of steer and heifer purchases handled by the four largest beef packers boundary. It is not annualized and should not be compared as a common national series with differently defined markets.

Declared empirical track

Share accounting

Reconstruct participant-share movement while checking denominator, coverage, entry, exit, and transaction changes.
Evidence base
3 observed anchors / 1980-2019
Data status
verified
Confidence
high
Metric family
market-cr4

Evidence to collect

4 declared requests
  1. 01

    Firm- or product-level shares at both anchors using the same denominator.

  2. 02

    Share changes attributable to entry, exit, acquisition, divestiture, or organic movement.

  3. 03

    Coverage, missing-participant, and residual-category documentation for each anchor.

  4. 04

    Source methodology showing whether measurement and participant classification stayed stable.

These requests define collection work. Their inclusion does not assert that the records exist, support a claim, or establish a cause.

Current source custody

Evidence already attached to the observed signal

Collection requests above remain separate from these published source records.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research ServiceConcentration in U.S. Meatpacking Industry and How It Affects Competition and Cattle PricesSource profile

This is a within-profile comparison governed by the documented usda-reported share of steer and heifer purchases handled by the four largest beef packers boundary. It is not annualized and should not be compared as a common national series with differently defined markets.

Research handoffs

Keep the question connected to its evidence system

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