September 4, 2008

 

 

Hurricane Gustav caused little damage to meat and poultry operations in Louisiana and the surrounding US region.

 

For the poultry sector, power outages were the main problem reported.

 

Sanderson Farms Inc. (SAFM) said Tuesday (September 2) in a press release that it lost power at its Hammond, La., chicken-processing plant.

 

Mike Cockrell, treasurer and chief financial officer of the company, said the plant should resume operations either Friday or Saturday. Power to the facility is expected to be returned Wednesday but it will take 24 to 36 hours to get the plant ready to resume normal operations, he said. Also, many employees are still without power, and gasoline is in short supply.

 

About 60 percent of the company's contract growers in the Macomb, Mississippi, production division also lost power but they have backup generators, Sanderson Farms said. The company reported that an initial assessment of its independent contract producers' assets indicated no significant damage.

 

For Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (PPC), some production facilities lost power because of Gustav, said Ray Atkinson, director of corporate communications. The failure of a backup generator at one of the company's farms was the only damage, he said.

 

Gary Mickelson, spokesman for Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) said he was not aware of any damage to company facilities in the region.

 

One market analyst speculated that chicken producers could increase production ahead of the next storms, such as Hanna and Ike that are now in the Atlantic, to try to anticipate power outages or localized flooding that might accompany a storm's aftermath. But so far, none of the producers have made any announcements of their intentions to do so.

 

Meanwhile, cattle and hog operations were seen affected even less than poultry.

 

Cattle markets along the US Gulf Coast reported no damage from the hurricane. Market analysts in Texas and the Delta region said nothing in the way of herd problems or even fencing damage was being reported from the affected area.

 

That was in sharp contrast to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when whole herds were swept away in the flooding, and structural damage to fences and buildings was left behind, they said. The lack of significant damage was attributed to less available pasture in the area following Katrina and fewer cattle in Gustav's path.