Due to COVID-19, eight percent of U.S. meat packing capacity is off line. With more employees staying home from work over concerns about the virus, many plants are operating at 50-to-70 percent of their normal production. That leaves the industry operating at 60 percent of its normal capacity and backing up 400,000 hogs per week. Commodity Futures Trading Commission economist Dave Amato participated in an agricultural advisory committee conference call, saying eight percent of the milk is being dumped and contract chicken operations are being forced to euthanize birds. Amato said this is “the Holcomb (Kansas) fire times ten or 15 or 20 because of the number of plants involved. The fire at the Tyson Foods plant last year shut down a cattle slaughter facility, which caused havoc in the markets.
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