Tyson Food, one of the world’s largest meat producers, announced on Tuesday that it would close two of its chicken facilities. The company will cease production at its Van Buren, Arkansas plant and Glen Allen, Virginia plant in May as part of the efforts to address profit drops in its poultry business.
Tyson reported disappointing numbers for 2022, recording a $0.968 billion in gross profit, which represented a 51.96 percent decline year-over-year. Its chicken division particularly struggled for years, and the company is now trying to improve its operation.
“The current scale and inability to economically improve operations have led to the difficult decision to close the facilities,” Tyson’s spokesperson said in a statement provided to the media.
The company said it intends to shift the production from Van Buren and Glen Allen facilities to other locations in order to use the capacity of its other plants in full. The decision is expected to result in around 1,700 workers being laid off, although Tyson said it would offer the employees that lost their job an opportunity to apply to positions in other facilities.
After the news came out, Tyson Food stock (TSN) saw a slight movement in after-hours trading, jumping by 0.51 percent and trading for $57.59 per share. The company’s shares are currently down almost 10 percent year to date and have lost more than 33 percent of their value in the last year.