{"id":44252,"date":"2024-03-21T13:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-releases-report-on-grocery-supply-chain-disruptions\/"},"modified":"2024-03-21T13:59:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:59:00","slug":"ftc-releases-report-on-grocery-supply-chain-disruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-releases-report-on-grocery-supply-chain-disruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Releases Report on Grocery Supply Chain Disruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report on the causes behind grocery supply chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The report revealed that large market participants accelerated and distorted the negative effects associated with supply chain disruptions.<\/p>\n

The FTC\u2019s report<\/a> also examined how supply chain disruptions affected competition among retailers, wholesalers, and producers, as well as the impacts on consumers and businesses. The report found that consumers felt the negative effects of supply chain disruptions in the form of sky rocketing prices for groceries and product shortages for essentials, like toilet paper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Notably, consumers are still facing the negative impact of the pandemic\u2019s price hikes, as the Commission\u2019s report finds that some in the grocery retail industry seem to have used rising costs as an opportunity to further raise prices to increase their profits, which remain elevated today.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the pandemic illustrated, a major shock to the supply chain can have cascading effects on consumers, including the prices they pay for groceries,\u201d said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. \u201cThe FTC\u2019s report examining U.S. grocery supply chains finds that dominant firms used this moment to come out ahead at the expense of their competitors and the communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the report explains, supply chain disruptions did not equally impact every retailer, wholesaler, or producer. Instead, smaller firms, especially smaller grocery retailers, disproportionately faced difficulties obtaining products compared to larger firms. Some larger firms were better able to protect their product supply compared to smaller competitors.<\/p>\n

The pandemic also prompted some larger firms to consider buying manufacturing suppliers, which potentially threatens to make certain supply chains even more concentrated in the future. Taken together, the report\u2019s findings reveal how supply chain bottlenecks can leave markets exposed to major supply chain shocks\u2014and that those shocks, in turn, can allow major firms to entrench their dominance.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s findings stem from orders the\u00a0FTC issued<\/a> in 2021 under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to Walmart Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Kroger Co., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., McLane Co, Inc. Procter & Gamble Co., Tyson Foods, Inc., and Kraft Heinz Co. The findings also draw from publicly available data on industry costs and revenues.<\/p>\n

Competitive Impacts of Supply Chain Disruptions<\/h2>\n

The report highlights several key insights regarding market structure and business conduct among grocery retailers, wholesalers, and producers, as well as their effects on consumers. These insights include:<\/p>\n