US packers ramped up weekly kills in response to the retail demand spike in late March.
However, those increases have quickly reversed as plants have slowed chains to implement employee distancing measures and increase sanitation interventions.
For instance, the Cargill beef plant in Fort Morgan, Colorado has had positive cases of COVID-19 amongst staff and announced ramped up precautionary measures this week.
Moreover, some plants have been forced to close doors in response to outbreaks amongst staff members.
Notably, a JBS beef plant in Greeley, Colorado and a Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota have both announced temporary closures this week. Other slaughter and further processing plants have also reported reduced capacity or temporary shutdowns.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in the US increases, additional plants may be forced to take greater precautions, slowing processing chains further, or temporarily close.
Managing workforces will become increasingly challenging. However, comparing the density of COVID-19 cases and the distribution of US cattle slaughter highlights, generally, key cattle processing states have so far been less affected by the virus.
Reflecting disruption at the JBS Greeley and Cargill Fort Morgan plants, Colorado is one of the few major cattle processing states (accounting for 8% of national slaughter in 2019) with a relatively high incidence of COVID-19.
The big cattle states of Nebraska, Kansas and Texas, which accounted for almost two-thirds of national slaughter last year, all had fewer than 500 cases per million people as of Tuesday. For context, Queensland and Victoria had just over 200 cases per million on Tuesday, while NSW had 376.
https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/market-news/covid-19-putting-us-beef-supply-chains-to-the-test/#
