News

Tyson to close four U.S. chicken processing plants as sales slow

Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest meat company, has announced it will close four chicken processing facilities in 2024 as the company continues its efforts to lower costs.  This is the second consecutive quarter with reported losses. 

The plants set to close in the first two quarters of 2024 are in North Little Rock, AR; Corydon, IN; Dexter, MO; and Noel, MO.  The company says it will shift production to other facilities to “further optimize network asset utilization”.  Tyson’s fiscal year begins in October. 

Tyson reported operating losses of $315 million, or 7.5% for chicken, and $74 million, or 5.6% for pork.  For the same period in 2022, chicken was 6.3% higher and pork was 1.5% higher. 

Donnie King, president and CEO says current market dynamics are challenging, but he’s encouraged by the improvements the company has made. 

In October 2022, the company announced plans to close its Midwest corporate offices, in March it closed two processing plants in Arkansas and Virginia, and in April announced it would eliminate 15% of its senior leadership and 10% of its corporate workers in an effort to offset rising production costs and lower sales. 

Total sales for the third quarter came in at $13.1 million, down 3% on the year and Tyson expects sales to be $53 billion to $54 billion for Fiscal Year 2023, on par with 2022.