A rare type of bacterial has killed off many tuna fish in North

The conclusion of the argument is about increase in retail price of tuna based cat foot in coming future. The argument is trying to make two leaps of connections they are whole sale price Vs retail price and increase today Vs increase within six months.

Having looked at the options, there was a confusion between C and E. C talks about past time period which I believe could be irrelevant to current argument. Because there could be many other factors which will impact retail price such as demand etc., Past may not be an accurate representation of current time. Also, C doesn't make any case for future estimated price. E on the other hand mentions about other ingredients which seems logical. Because since the cat food dealers don't want to loose business, they might have made sure that other ingredients price stays low hence the overall price of cat food stays constant. Hence E is right answer.

If consumers are not willing to spend for the tuna best cat food, then the demand will not be high. This, in turn, would mean that the prices will not rise. Based on this thinking, why is B not the answer?

The question asks about an option who's answer provides some information relevant to evaluating the claim. The claim was that the prices of the cat food will increase. That will itself depend on the prices of the raw materials (tuna and other things). The manufacturing price will increase unless the prices of other ingredients in tuna based cat food decrease. So that's why, I think that E is the correct answer we are looking for.

Also, B gives us the answer from customers point of view. Even if the customers are not willing to spend more, they will be buying the minimum amount of cat food which should not affect the manufacturing prices of the product.

Let me try to help you guys here.

Conclusion: the retail price of tuna based cat food is certain to increase within six months.

The answer to which of the following questions would provide information relevant to evaluating the claims made in the argument above? ---- evaluate above given information.

A.Can the bacteria be eliminated within the next six months? --- Lets consider the answer yes. in that case the price for cat food will not increase. if answer is No. i understand the answer is no. but more important question in this case will the problem remain the same. In gmat its a very basic rule never kill a problem. just weaken it. in this case problem will not remain as it is maintained above.
B.Are consumers willing to spend more for tuna based cat food? --- yes or no either way it is not affecting this problem.
C.Has the price of cat food remained steady during other period of poor tuna catches? --- what happened in those situation has nothing to do with this one.
D.What percentage of tuna in North America were affected by the bacteria? ---- again an irrelevant factor.
E.Have the prices of other ingredients in tuna based cat food decreased recently? --- let say yes. while tuna price increased. over all process will not increase. while if prices of other ingredients not decreased or increased then overall prices will increase. E is the correct ans.

E is best answer

We know that tuna meat price is increased but tuna based cat food price

If it's other ingredients price is decreased then we are not sure whether price would increase or not
But if price of other ingredients remains same then its price can go up
E goes in both ways so it sbest option

B doesn't correlate with situation ,in argument we know nothing about consumer behaviour so it is wrong

All other options are not addressing concern of price for tuna based cat food

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn Why D is irrelevant?

If high percentage of tuna is affected then yes price will increase , if less percentage or negligible percentage of tuna is affected then price will not increase

prags1989 - Let see what is relevant here.

As a result the whole sale price of tuna meat has increased significantly >>>> Therefore the retail price of tuna based cat food is certain to increase within six months.

So reasoning is whole sale price is increased and eventually retail price will increase.

No matter the answer of this question (high/low), we are sure about one thing that price of tune has increased. and so the conclusion is not going to change. if you say no this thing will affect prices, we have to assume a lot of stuff. So i called it irrelevant. I see you have made this assumption and fall in trap. well don't use info that is not given.

Hi Gladiator59 ... How do we eliminate A ???