July 14, 2006

Pilgrim's Pride to cut production at US poultry plant

A Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) poultry plant in the US will reduce production by 10 percent by shutting down every other Friday for the rest of the year, the company says in an article in the Daily News-Record.

The "skip day" work schedule at the plant between Timberville and Broadway was announced in a Jun 28 letter to employees. The first shutdown will be Jul 28.

"Poultry in the US has had a hard time this year," said Gary Rhodes, a company spokesman, in the article. "There's been a very weak demand in the export market because of fears of bird flu."

He said the reduced schedule will bring inventory in line with demand.

The skip days will affect about 600 employees, Rhodes said.