In the past week, Tyson Foods had to close three slaughter plants and only opened its doors in moderation to the fourth factory, in the context of COVID-19 testing procedures for workers.
According to agricultural economics experts, the US pork and beef processing industry is currently losing 33% and 14% of its production capacity, respectively, as the COVID-19 epidemic swept across states with concentrated killing facilities. surgery, packing.
John Tyson, president of Tyson Foods, said US stores would be in a shortage of meat until factories in the group's supply chain resumed production. “When pig, cow and chicken farms are forced to close, even in a short time, millions of kilograms of meat will be cut off the supply chain,” Tyson wrote in a letter published in three papers. Big newspaper in the US on April 27.
At supermarkets, the former meat source sometimes dried up as consumers rushed to buy stockpiles like the time before the government decided to close in March, but now the supply is stable. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the country's livestock industry in March produced 2.7 million tons of red meat, an increase of 13% over the same period last year.
But the scale of slaughtering operations has shrunk when slaughter plants are closed, or reduced in operations due to the number of workers caught or tested for COVID-19. On May 24, packaging plants slaughtered 83,000 cows, a half compared to 114,000, along with 361,000 pigs, down from 449,000 in the same period last year.
Last week, Tyson Group closed two slaughtering and packaging plants in Logansport, Indiana and Waterloo, Iowa – with a capacity to slaughter up to 35,000 pigs a day. The group also had to close a cow slaughter plant in Pasco, Washington, when 1,400 employees were there to test COVID-19.
The cattle farms concentrated mainly in the “chicken arc” pulling from Arkansas to Carolina were not affected by the disease. But many former farm owners who used to sell goods through restaurants now have to hang sale discounts. In the Midwest, farmers are currently unable to sell pigs to slaughterhouses, packing closures closed.
Tyson said millions of chickens, pigs and cows will not be able to be sold in the market due to the closure of processing facilities. The meat supply chain is crumbling.
His group has pledged to run a $ 60 million “Thank you” program to pay tribute to 116,000 employees, driving the company's truck for their contributions during the outbreak.
According to Robert Moskow, an analyst at Credit Suisse, Tyson Foods needs to spend an additional $ 300 million for additional labor costs in case the disease attacks its slaughter facilities. group.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the country now has 2,700 slaughterhouses, of which 800 are quarantined at the federal level. The COVID-19 epidemic has had a strong impact on the US animal husbandry and processing industry, with at least 73 packaging and processing plants identified to have COVID-19 workers.
Pork processing plants suffer the most. The three largest US pork and slaughtering centers were forced to close, including one belonging to Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a JBS pork processing plant in Worthington, Minnesota, and Tyson Fresh Foods factory in Waterloo, Iowa. Taken together, these three factories account for about 15% of the US pork supply.
According to VNA
