Tyson Foods pork plant in Iowa to close for good

Tyson Foods announced on Monday it will close an Iowa pork plant, affecting more than 1,000 jobs.

Workers at the Perry facility officially learned of the planned closure on Monday, according to the Des Moines Register. The plant reportedly has a workforce of more than 1,200.

“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close our Perry, Iowa, pork plant,” a Tyson Foods spokesperson confirmed Tuesday to FOX Business. 

The spokesperson said closing the Perry pork plant “emphasizes our focus to optimize the efficiency of our operations to best serve our customers.” 

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In 2023, Tyson Foods indicated six chicken processing facilities would close permanently, and more recently, the company added a pair of “case ready value-added” beef plants to the list of closures, according to the company’s first-quarter earnings report. The shuttering of those facilities, which are located across six states, is meant to “optimize asset utilization.”

Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh told Reuters that the plant is expected to close on June 28.

“It’s a big blow to the community,” he told the outlet. “It’s our largest employer in the area. It’s going to be tough to figure out what to do without them.”

Its other Iowa facilities employ more than 9,000 people. In total, the company reported at the end of September that it had 139,000 workers, including 114,000 in “non-corporate sites” around the U.S.

“Taking care of our team members is our top priority and we encourage them to apply for other open roles within the company,” the Tyson Foods spokesperson told FOX Business. “We are also working closely with state and local officials to provide additional resources to those who are impacted.”

In the first quarter of its fiscal year 2024, Tyson Foods saw some improvements in its pork segment. 

It notched nearly $1.52 billion in quarterly sales, marking the slightest decline year over year from $1.53 billion. Meanwhile, the segment’s adjusted operating income for the quarter swung to a profit of $68 million thanks to “improved spreads driven by lower hog cost, as well as better execution,” Tyson Foods CFO John Tyson said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Tyson Foods said last month it “anticipate[s] adjusted operating income of breakeven to $100 million in fiscal 2024” for the pork segment.

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