On January 10, the company temporarily suspended operations in Denison, Iowa; Norfolk and West Point, Nebraska; and Boise, Idaho. Second shift processing at Pasco, Washington was also temporarily discontinued. This was a result of unfavourable market conditions, including tight cattle supplies, soft domestic beef demand and the continued absence of key export markets.

Tyson officials originally expected the temporary suspension to last three to five weeks; however, based on daily evaluations of current market conditions they now indicate it will last a full five weeks and possibly longer. The company will continue to analyse the situation; however, the decision whether the suspension will go beyond a fifth week will not be made until sometime next week.

“We know how difficult this suspension has been for our Team Members and our plant communities, however, market conditions have not improved enough to warrant resuming operations,” said John Tyson, chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods. “We need more cattle to run these plants. The U.S. beef industry is currently out of balance with far more slaughter capacity than available cattle. That’s why reopening the US border to Canadian cattle is so important. While we remain optimistic this will happen as scheduled, we’re concerned about attempts to delay it."

Approximately 2,100 workers are affected by the temporary suspension. This includes 275 at Denison, 900 at Norfolk, 275 at West Point, 250 at Boise and 400 at Pasco. The company will, however, pay all qualified workers not to work for another week.

Meanwhile, shareholders elected ten members to the Tyson Board of Directors, including five independent directors, and voted on several items during the company’s annual meeting. Workplace safety and environmental stewardship awards were given and the company recognised 15 employees as “Tyson Heroes.”
In a presentation to shareholders, John Tyson noted that over the past three years the company has moved beef and pork up the value chain, increasing the company’s mix of value-added products to 38%. The company has paid $1.4 billion in debt, reducing the company’s debt to capital ratio from 59% to 43.9%.