Tyson closing plant in Perry

[ClonerJams]

This is rough news for that community

Tyson Foods pork plant in Perry, Iowa closing

The Tyson Foods plant in Perry, the city's largest employer, will close permanently.

www.kcci.com

 

[ISUAgronomist]

Yeah that's a lot of jobs. Ton of people will leave that town. Ripple effects throughout the community.

 

[JP4CY]

That's a heart breaker for that town.
Gonna have a massive impact.

Do plants like this ever get purchased and reopened under different name/less employees?

 

[Cyforce]

That's a heart breaker for that town.
Gonna have a massive impact.

Do plants like this ever get purchased and reopened under different name/less employees?

Newton never came back from Maytag. The wind turbine offered a fraction of the jobs and the racetrack really didn't offer much to those employees.

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Does anyone know how old the plant is? Maybe someone will buy the plant for cents on the dollar and reopen the place? Trying to be positive ?

 

[Die4Cy]

That's a heart breaker for that town.
Gonna have a massive impact.

Do plants like this ever get purchased and reopened under different name/less employees?

Sometimes they do. Often they get retrofitted to fit a higher margin component of the industry, maybe going from slaughter to other product lines like cooked product. This is bad news for the Perry community but also for a pork industry in Iowa that will lose about 6% of it's slaughter capacity and stress plants in other areas. It's very expensive to shutter a plant, they must think they see something in the long term trends that make this plant less viable than others. I'm sure there are fewer hogs in the area than there used to be as the metro area expands.

 

[AuH2O]

Man, this really hurts. Almost 1300 jobs lost in a town with fewer than 8000 people. That’s really hard to process.

 

[JP4CY]

Sometimes they do. Often they get retrofitted to fit a higher margin component of the industry, maybe going from slaughter to other product lines like cooked product. This is bad news for the Perry community but also for a pork industry in Iowa that will lose about 6% of it's slaughter capacity and stress plants in other areas. It's very expensive to shutter a plant, they must think they see something in the long term trends that make this plant less viable than others. I'm sure there are fewer hogs in the area than there used to be as the metro area expands.

When you say cooked product do you mean like Burke in Nevada?

 

[BCClone]

That's a heart breaker for that town.
Gonna have a massive impact.

Do plants like this ever get purchased and reopened under different name/less employees?

One in Sioux City closed and a new one opened. Think they basically started all over.

Problem is most of these plants were built to process 225-235 pound pigs. Now most are running 300 plus and things like rails dropping happen. Plus they have new procedures to improve the meat quality

 

[CyCrazy]

When you say cooked product do you mean like Burke in Nevada?

Yes

 

[Die4Cy]

When you say cooked product do you mean like Burke in Nevada?

Yeah. They make pizza toppings, but Tyson used to have a good number of value added plants including several in Iowa that would take raw product and press it into nuggets, or patties, pork tenderloins, breakfast sausage, etc. I think Jimmy Dean might be a Tyson label.

Keep in mind that a value added plant like that is subject to many of the same demand issues that a slaughter facility would face, but may be able to operate at higher margins due to the nature of what they produce.

I don't think that Perry plant is that old, I think it opened in the 90's. Tyson wouldn't want to surrender a modern facility with water treatment and a trained workforce if they thought it was a short term thing. The pork complex has been pretty messed up for about 6-8 months. This might be a sign they expect that to continue? They've been losing money in their beef facilities for a good while, but demand in the beef sector is much better so it keeps moving out the door. I think the fresh pork market is just pretty backed up right now, so that's where you end up closing the doors.

 

[Acylum]

Yes

Burke in Nevada and Perry Tyson are two completely different establishments. Apples to oranges. Perry never did any value- added products. The most shocking thing is they did a huge multi-million dollar upgrade not that long ago.

 

[Acylum]

Yeah. They make pizza toppings, but Tyson used to have a good number of value added plants including several in Iowa that would take raw product and press it into nuggets, or patties, pork tenderloins, breakfast sausage, etc. I think Jimmy Dean might be a Tyson label.

Keep in mind that a value added plant like that is subject to many of the same demand issues that a slaughter facility would face, but may be able to operate at higher margins due to the nature of what they produce.

I don't think that Perry plant is that old, I think it opened in the 90's. Tyson wouldn't want to surrender a modern facility with water treatment and a trained workforce if they thought it was a short term thing. The pork complex has been pretty messed up for about 6-8 months. This might be a sign they expect that to continue? They've been losing money in their beef facilities for a good while, but demand in the beef sector is much better so it keeps moving out the door. I think the fresh pork market is just pretty backed up right now, so that's where you end up closing the doors.

Well before the 90’s. Former Oscar Mayer I believe.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Sometimes they do. Often they get retrofitted to fit a higher margin component of the industry, maybe going from slaughter to other product lines like cooked product. This is bad news for the Perry community but also for a pork industry in Iowa that will lose about 6% of it's slaughter capacity and stress plants in other areas. It's very expensive to shutter a plant, they must think they see something in the long term trends that make this plant less viable than others. I'm sure there are fewer hogs in the area than there used to be as the metro area expands.

The US is in a pork surplus…

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

One in Sioux City closed and a new one opened. Think they basically started all over.

Problem is most of these plants were built to process 225-235 pound pigs. Now most are running 300 plus and things like rails dropping happen. Plus they have new procedures to improve the meat quality

What hurt Sioux City is that they moved corporate functions out. They cut a lot of white collar jobs.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Man, this really hurts. Almost 1300 jobs lost in a town with fewer than 8000 people. That’s really hard to process.

It’s a huge blow. Tyson closed their Cherokee production plant a few years back and it has been a major blow to that community.

 

[Des Moines Clone]

Well before the 90’s. Former Oscar Mayer I believe.

Correct. It had been there for a long time when I was growing up out that way in the 90s

 

[cincy_cy2014]

Burke in Nevada and Perry Tyson are two completely different establishments. Apples to oranges. Perry never did any value- added products. The most shocking thing is they did a huge multi-million dollar upgrade not that long ago.

Burke is owned by Hormel. Hormel also sold their processing plant in Fremont, NE a few years back to Wholestone which is owned by a cooperative of farmers. Could see them having interest in the fresh pork which is what this plant is.

I work in the meat industry so have some industry knowledge.

 

[HOTDON]

Yeah. They make pizza toppings, but Tyson used to have a good number of value added plants including several in Iowa that would take raw product and press it into nuggets, or patties, pork tenderloins, breakfast sausage, etc. I think Jimmy Dean might be a Tyson label.

Keep in mind that a value added plant like that is subject to many of the same demand issues that a slaughter facility would face, but may be able to operate at higher margins due to the nature of what they produce.

I don't think that Perry plant is that old, I think it opened in the 90's. Tyson wouldn't want to surrender a modern facility with water treatment and a trained workforce if they thought it was a short term thing. The pork complex has been pretty messed up for about 6-8 months. This might be a sign they expect that to continue? They've been losing money in their beef facilities for a good while, but demand in the beef sector is much better so it keeps moving out the door. I think the fresh pork market is just pretty backed up right now, so that's where you end up closing the doors.

You're totally right that those are considerations not taken lightly. Their current NPDES permit is up at the end of the year (likely just a coincidence). Granting of new permits isn't a guarantee and with the staffing woes the Prestage facility in Eagle Grove had attracting a new workforce is a big ask too. Gotta be something significant driving it. Breaking even to keep those wheels turning is often preferable.

 

[Die4Cy]

Burke in Nevada and Perry Tyson are two completely different establishments. Apples to oranges. Perry never did any value- added products. The most shocking thing is they did a huge multi-million dollar upgrade not that long ago.

The question was whether or not a plant like that could be retrofitted to something else.

I don't believe Tyson does any value added pork in Iowa at all any more since they sold the NW Iowa plants around 1997.