The price of beef is increasing rapidly and “artificially”, deplores a Quebec lawyer who finds it “aberrant” and who has just asked the Superior Court of Quebec to accept a class action against “the beef cartel”.
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Sylvie de Bellefeuille, lawyer at Option consommateurs, seized the judge of the case on March 24 and targets four American giants who also do business in Canada: Cargill, JBS, Tyson and the National Beef Packing Company.
These four processors dominate the Canadian beef market by 85%, and that of the United States by 80%, indicates the document filed in court, and “conspire […] in order to fix, maintain, increase or control the price”.
All Quebecers who bought beef after January 1, 2015 are invited to join the action, in the event that it is authorized.
“It targets a lot of people, including those who are already having trouble making ends meet,” pleads the lawyer.
« Aberrant »
The price of fresh or frozen beef rose 6.5% in Canada in 2020 and 3.1% in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
But in Ontario, for example, this increase has not benefited farmers or grocers, says expert Kevin Grier in a report published in February and sponsored by Beef Farmers of Ontario, the association of beef producers in the province.
He calculated that from 2016 to 2021, the rancher’s share of a $10 cut of beef went from $4.10 to $3.90, while the grocer’s fell by 0, $80 to $0.20, and that of the processor jumped from $5.10 to $5.90.
From “normal” (2016-2018), the processor’s share became “very profitable” (2019), then “exceptionally profitable” (2021-2022), he underlines.
Lawyer Sylvie de Bellefeuille is sure the same thing happened in Quebec.
“It’s absurd,” she says.