May 5, 2020

 

US pork output slashed by 50% amid operating meat plants

 

 

According to Tyson Foods, US hog processing capacity had dropped by 50% even with the president's executive order last week requiring meat processing plants to stay open to ward off shortages, reported The Washington Post.

 

This segment of food industry has been hardest hit by the new coronavirus outbreak and the company has been severely affected. Three of Tyson's six main US processing facilities remain closed, and three others are operating at reduced capacity, the company said.

 

Steve Meyer, an economist for Kerns and Associates, an agricultural risk management firm, said Tyson's production numbers may be even more dire.

 

"By my calculations, last Friday, pork production was down 42.9% for all US companies," he said Monday. "Tyson, by my calculations, was down by 57,780 hogs processed per day from a capacity of 78,500 processed per day. That's 74% short."

 

Tyson declined to give further details.

 

Tyson closed its Columbus Junction, Iowa, plant on April 6 after recording 200 coronavirus infections and at least two employee deaths. (The facility is open now and running at three-quarters capacity, Meyer said.) Next, the company suspended operations at its Perry, Iowa, pork plant on April 20 for deep cleaning. The company slowed and then closed its largest pork plant, in Waterloo, Iowa, on April 22 after 182 cases of COVID-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes, were linked to the facility. And a fourth pork plant, in Logansport, Indiana, halted operations April 25 after nearly 900 employees, or 40% of the workforce, tested positive for the coronavirus.

 

Although pork processing was most affected, the Tyson beef supply is also threatened, with sick workers forcing shutdowns. The Tyson Fresh Meats beef plant in Pasco, Washington, closed, and Tyson said last week it would temporarily suspend operations at its Dakota City, Nebraska, beef processing plant after a surge of hundreds of coronavirus cases linked to the facility.

 

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 115 meat and poultry processing facilities in 19 states had reported COVID-19 cases as of Friday. Among approximately 130,000 workers at these facilities, 4,913 cases and 20 deaths have been recorded.

 

Dermot Hayes, an economist at Iowa State University, said Tyson has been hit particularly hard for two reasons. It was hit first, so the spread has had longer to play out. And more recently, Tyson has been checking everyone at its plants and finding many workers testing positive for the virus.

 

"At one in Missouri, they tested 2,000 workers and 350 workers were positive," Hayes said. "None of them had symptoms."

 

Tyson announced last week that it plans to resume limited production this week at the Logansport facility, after a plant tour with local health and government officials, a union representative and medical professionals.

 

Hayes said part of what will increase prices is that consumers will probably see a scarcity of pork, beef and chicken all at the same time because of the plant closures. Consumers cannot just substitute a cheaper animal protein, because all are likely to cost more.

 

Costco announced on Monday some restrictions as supply tightens, saying fresh meat purchases are temporarily limited to three items per warehouse member among the beef, pork and poultry products.