Increasing Concentration in the U.S. Hard Wheat Milling Industry: Efficiency Gains or Market Power? by Kyle Stiegert and Olivier Carton Department of Agricultural Economics Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-4011 Abstract This research evaluated market power-cost efficiency trade-offs in the U.S. wheat milling industry. The principal findings are that the hypothesis of competition could not be rejected, and increasing concentration has helped to reduce the marketing margin by $0.65/100lbs flour. Social concerns about market power in this industry probably are unwarranted. Copyright 1998 by Kyle Stiegert and Olivier Carton. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of the document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright note appears on all such copies.