TSN - Trump Uses Defense Production Act to Keep Meatpackers Open. What Should Investors Think?
Where's the beef? People are freaking out about a potential shortage in the nation's meat supply. At least, that is what some of the country's largest meatpacking companies are warning about. John H. Tyson, the chairman of Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), signed a letter published in a series of full-page newspaper advertisements in which he says "the food supply chain is breaking."
This stark observation comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to usher the U.S. into an economic decline potentially worse than the 2008 market crash and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Food supplies are now interrupted as entire meatpacking and food processing plants are either closed or at limited capacities.
Plants in the heartland, owned by Tyson and other companies such as JBS (OTC: JBSAY), National Beef (owned by Marfrig Global Foods (OTC: MRRTY)), Cargill (privately held), and Smithfield Foods (owned by China's WH Group), have been hit by coronavirus outbreaks among plant workers.