2025, Volume 33, Paper 6
ISSN: 1883-5675

Updating an Analysis of Market Power in Australian Domestic Meat Markets, 1970-2023

Garry Griffith – School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne

Selwyn Heilbron – School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne; SG Heilbron Economics and Policy Consulting

Chinthani Rathnayake – School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne

Abstract

Parliamentarians, the rural media and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have, over many years, expressed their interest in competitiveness in the Australian domestic meat industry through numerous reviews. Using the New Empirical Industrial Organisation framework, in this study the question of whether there is any market power present in the domestic fresh beef, lamb, pork and chicken markets within Australia is re-assessed, using aggregate data covering the period 1970-2023. Overall, it is concluded that there is no evidence of market power in either the input or output markets of beef and lamb, that there is consistent evidence of market power in the fresh pork input market and that there is some weak evidence of market power in the chicken input market. However, there is no evidence of market power in the pork or chicken output markets. 

Keywords: market power, meat industry, NEIO, oligopsony, oligopoly

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