Walmart opened a meatpacking plant. What does it mean for the beef industry?

Walmart opened a meatpacking plant. What does it mean for the beef industry?

It’s a step the company took to reduce its reliance on the heavily consolidated beef industry. But, for some ranchers, it may represent a new monopoly of its own.

January 10th, 2020
by Sam Bloch

Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S., is getting into the beef business. This afternoon, the Arkansas-based company will make a notable move for a purveyor of groceries: opening a 200,000-square-foot meatpacking plant built specifically to process Black Angus beef. The facility, located in Thomasville, Georgia, is the company’s first such plant, according to the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.

In a press release, Walmart said it’s opening the facility to process Angus beef steaks and roasts, which it will sell in 500 stores throughout the Southeast. While the grocer says that controlling its supply chain will meet customers’ demands for transparency, there may be other factors in play as well. This summer, Walmart U.S. Chief Greg Foran told CNN Business that concerns over industry consolidation were one factor that led the company to look into regaining some control over its supply. MORE