Thank you, Chair.
I want to thank everyone for being here as well. It's an important discussion.
I'll direct my questions to you, Dr. Stanford. You stated that the latest industry-wide financial data on food retail is showing that the retail profits have doubled since prepandemic norms, and that profits are continuing to grow. You also mentioned that grocery retailers are not capital-intensive. They are not growing, processing or manufacturing the products they sell. You said they purchase products from suppliers, adding their markup and selling to consumers.
What are the main reasons behind this increase? In your opinion, why haven't profit margins narrowed back to prepandemic levels? Is industry concentration or demand inelasticity contributing to the sustained high profits in the food sector?