In the nation of Garlonia, three large grocery chains now control over

Question

In the nation of Garlonia, three large grocery chains now control over 85% of all food retail sales after a series of acquisitions and mergers. A consumer watchdog group has warned that because such consolidation typically results in fewer choices and higher prices, Garlonian consumers will soon face rising grocery costs.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the consumer watchdog group’s prediction?

(A) Independent farmers and local producers have recently expanded their operations and begun selling directly to consumers at local markets.
 (B) The three major grocery chains in Garlonia have recently announced record profits over the past fiscal year.
 (C) In other countries where similar levels of grocery market consolidation occurred, food prices rose sharply.
 (D) Most Garlonian consumers continue to shop primarily at chain grocery stores, despite the rise of alternative outlets.
 (E) Some items sold by the major grocery chains are imported from countries with lower food production costs.

ccarson · Answer

IMO, not the best answer since "85% of all food retail sale..." still go to those three large grocery chains which means that at those grocery stores they can still charge higher prices.  A  does bring in that there is competition with independent farmers and local producers (which solves the problem of fewer choices) but it does seem that the large grocery stores will still be able to charge higher costs for buying at food retail stores; unless you take it as price competition makes it so the grocery stores can't charge higher prices. However, every other answer choice doesn't do much.

B , if anything, strengthens the argument since record profits likely means either higher revenue or lower costs but because of the acquisitions, it's likely it is because of the increased revenue.
 C  strengthens the argument because if it happened in another country, it could happen in Garlonia too, and if the conditions are different between other counties and Garlonia, then  B  still doesn't do anything to weaken it.
 D  strengthens the argument because if Garlonian customers continue to primarily buy at the chain grocery stores, then the grocery stores have every incentive to increase prices.
 E  means lower costs for the grocery stores but if the grocery stores don't have an incentive to have a lower their price, why should they? They should take the extra profit from getting food with lower production cost.

Moulii · Answer

Option A :It gives competition to the three large grocery chains which results in weakaning the statement given by consumer watchdog. Hence it is the correct option 
Option B: It is a strengthener 
Option C:It is also a strengthener 
Option D: It is also strengthening the argument 
Option E:If we infer the passage 85%is captures by those three companies so E is a contradictory statement so it eliminated

In the nation of Garlonia, three large grocery chains now control over

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In the nation of Garlonia, three large grocery chains now control over

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