August 5, 2020

Operations of beef processing plants in Missouri start to normalise

Beef processing plants in the US state of Missouri are starting to reach back to 90% capacity as they reopen and try to catch back up due to a large backlog of cattle for slaughtering, Komu 8 reports.

"We're 15-20% below where we were back then," Russell said. "But we're optimistic that once the backlog of cattle get up in the supply, then the demand would equalise a little better", said Missouri Beef Council executive director Mark Russell.

Some beef processing plants temporarily closed after several of their workers tested positive for COVID-19.

The closure of the affected plants resulted in an overstock of cattle as there were limitations in the number of animals to be processed.

Beef plants that remained open slowed down operations at less than 50% of capacity, as per report.

Russell said that because of all this, retail shelves were not fully supplied with beef, with beef shortage running to as high as 25-35%.

Farmers' pay was also reduced by 25% because of the overstock in cattle. "Because there was a backlog of cattle, farmers and ranchers actually got paid less because there was more supply than what they could get processed," Russell explained.

Russell added that because retailers only had limited supplies, they would pay higher prices in order to have beef to sell, and would then pass the higher prices on to their customers.

Meanwhile, Russell said that beef processing plants are participating more safety measures to avoid workers becoming sick again, such as monitoring employees' temperatures before and while working on the line each day.