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 Germany Sun 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 Germany Sun.
More InformationBRUSSELS, Belgium: To address power shortages at electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, last week, the European Commission announced plans to ...
New Delhi [India], December 7 (ANI): India's expanding consumer market and vast labour force can make it an alternative destination ...
European Union leaders are in Beijing Thursday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.Ahead of ...
Beijing's clarification of its stance on commerce with the European Commission comes after the bloc warned of a "growing trade ...
budapest, hungary - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff on Wednesday said he wanted to arrange a meeting between ...
© Provided by Xinhua BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's total goods imports and exports expanded 1.2 percent year on ...
BRUSSELS, Belgium: To address power shortages at electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, last week, the European Commission announced plans to ...
The U.S. has supplied Israel with scores of BLU-109 bunker-buster bombs since October 7, the Wall Street Journal has reported, ...
HELSINKI, Finland: After Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) earlier this year, hundreds of migrants from the Middle ...
Moscow [Russia], December 7 (ANI): The Russian Federation Council unanimously agreed to officially designate March 17, 2024, as the date ...
Athens, Greece - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Athens on Thursday in a keenly watched visit billed as ...
A Russian drone attack killed one person and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region, the regional governor said Thursday.Oleh ...