Tyson closing chicken facilities

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

Tyson Foods to shut four US chicken plants in blow to small towns

CHICAGO (Reuters) -Tyson Foods is shutting four more chicken plants - in Arkansas, Indiana and Missouri - to cut costs, a blow to small communities in the U.S. heartland that depend on the meatpacker for nearly 3,000 jobs. Tyson closed two other chicken plants, in Arkansas and Virginia, with...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

Pretty sad at these multibillion dollar companies drag up their operation as soon as they start losing money.
Some plants don't make as much money as others. Never did, never will.
It seems like this was acceptable for big business for many years. Now it seems like as soon as they get an underperformer they close it.
It sure would seem like they could have kept those open and found a way to make them more profitable and kept all those people in those small towns working.
They had no problem taking record profits during the pandemic but as soon as they lose a nickel they cut and run. I am not fond of the Big four.

 

[Dusty Britches]

Devastating for sure. There is no loyalty anywhere. Those communities supported Tyson in tough times and now the company is ditching them.

 

[moses388]

I would guess it's related to bird flu. Many farms were decimated and some probably called it quits. It will take time to rebuild the numbers just like cattle.

 

[SDM]

The one in VA wasn't bird flu. I think it was a surprise to most if not all of the growers. I think it's got to do with modernizing facilities. At the same time these are closing they're building new complexes in Arkansas and a new further processing plant in VA.

 

[bird dog]

It doesn't do any good to keep a plant open if they can't sell the product. Demand is down so the most economical thing to do is to shut the plants that need modernized or are just plain inefficient. Business 101.

From their news release
A glut of chicken and pork on the market and lackluster consumer demand have been weighing down wholesale prices that retailers and restaurants pay. Tyson has been trying to cut costs through layoffs, plant closures and making changes to some of its operations. Tyson said Monday it would shift production from the four chicken plants to other facilities by the middle of 2024.

 

[simme]

It was also reported this week that Smithfields is closing 35 hog farms in Missouri. Quote from the article is "The U.S. meat industry has struggled to afford higher feed and labor costs while Americans grapple with escalated food prices, decreasing demand for pork and poultry". I understand high feed costs and labor costs as well as escalated food prices. But why the decreased demand for pork and poultry? All while on the hoof beef prices are way up and lots of cows going to slaughter. Grocery store prices for pork and chicken are much lower than beef. It would seem to me that the consumer would be buying more of this chicken and pork glut at the lower prices relative to beef.

 

[Allenw]

It was also reported this week that Smithfields is closing 35 hog farms in Missouri. Quote from the article is "The U.S. meat industry has struggled to afford higher feed and labor costs while Americans grapple with escalated food prices, decreasing demand for pork and poultry". I understand high feed costs and labor costs as well as escalated food prices. But why the decreased demand for pork and poultry? All while on the hoof beef prices are way up and lots of cows going to slaughter. Grocery store prices for pork and chicken are much lower than beef. It would seem to me that the consumer would be buying more of this chicken and pork glut at the lower prices relative to beef.

Maybe vertical integration doesn't actually work.

 

[Travlr]

It was also reported this week that Smithfields is closing 35 hog farms in Missouri. Quote from the article is "The U.S. meat industry has struggled to afford higher feed and labor costs while Americans grapple with escalated food prices, decreasing demand for pork and poultry". I understand high feed costs and labor costs as well as escalated food prices. But why the decreased demand for pork and poultry? All while on the hoof beef prices are way up and lots of cows going to slaughter. Grocery store prices for pork and chicken are much lower than beef. It would seem to me that the consumer would be buying more of this chicken and pork glut at the lower prices relative to beef.

I still think there is some kind of clandestine price support to buy down the beef population, making it attractive to sell productive cows. And you're right, chicken and pork should be in higher demand.

 

[dave_shelby]

Agreed. I don't see anyone buying less chicken and pork. Exports?

 

[greybeard]

Well, I guess the old guy doesn't have to worry anymore...