Reuters – Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the biggest U.S. chicken companies, underestimated meat production at the end of last year, Chief Executive Fabio Sandri said after the company reported a surprise quarterly loss.
The company, owned mostly by meatpacker JBS, joined rival Tyson Foods in misjudging that lower beef and pork supplies would increase demand for chicken as consumers grapple with high inflation.
Executives expected total meat supplies to tighten toward the end of 2022 because U.S. ranchers slashed the size of the cow herd while avian flu wiped out millions of turkeys, Sandri told analysts on a call.
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As a result, Pilgrim’s ramped up chicken production by placing more eggs into incubators for birds that came to market as food in the quarter ending in December, he said.
