Robert Besser
17 Mar 2023, 22:26 GMT+10
SPRINGDALE, Arkansas: Tyson Foods said it will close two US chicken plants and lay off some 1,700 employees on 12th May, it was announced on March 14.
The statement added that Tyson will close its plant in Glen Allen, Virginia, with 692 employees, and its other plant in Van Buren, Arkansas, with 969 employees.
The company said that as part of a strategy to utilize the full capacity at each of its facilities, its chicken processing will shift to other plants.
"The current scale and inability to economically improve operations has led to the difficult decision to close the facilities," Tyson said.
In 2022, Arkansas-based Tyson said that due to limited supplies and labor, it was unable to fulfill all chicken orders and planned to increase production. Tyson earlier bought chicken from other producers to meet demand.
However, it wrongly predicted that demand for chicken would be strong at supermarkets in November and December, said Chief Executive Donnie King, on a quarterly earnings call last month.
Meanwhile, Arun Sundaram, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said closing plants is difficult, but justified, as Tyson must improve its performance.
"There has been a lot of investor pressure on management about improving the chicken margins," Sundaram said, as quoted by Reuters.
The company's overall sales missed analyst estimates for the quarter ending 31st December, when total operating margins dropped to 3.5 percent from 11.3 percent last year.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 union, which represents workers at Tyson's Virginia plant, criticized the decision to close the plant.
Mark Federici, Local 400 president, stressed, "These men and women risked their lives and the safety of their families to keep this plant operational during the pandemic, and this is the thanks they get?" according to Reuters.
Get a daily dose of Las Vegas Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Las Vegas Herald.
More InformationIsrael resumed its military operation in the Gaza Strip on Friday with heavy bombardments. As strikes continue, the United States ...
LIVINGSTON, Kentucky: CSX railroad said that a failed wheel bearing on a train car caused a derailment on November 22 ...
HELSINKI, Finland: After Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) earlier this year, hundreds of migrants from the Middle ...
CHISINAU, Moldova: Over the weekend, heavy snowfall and strong blizzards in Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria left one person dead and ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: After a House Ethics Committee report found substantial evidence that he broke the law, New York Republican representative ...
In a report by The New York Times, it has been revealed that Israeli officials had obtained a detailed battle ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: This week, the White House said that Senior Biden administration officials met with the makers of respiratory syncytial ...
CHEYENNE, Wyoming: This week, the Biden administration raised US$3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks extended their rally on Friday despite remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ...
MOSCOW, Russia: Russia's trade in oil with India, one of the most lucrative oil trade routes since the imposition of ...
LONDON - Health experts and tobacco campaigners have strongly criticized New Zealand's decision to repeal laws that aimed to ban ...
NEW YORK, New York - The Dow Jones index was the standout on U.S. financial markets on Thursday with a ...