Tyson Won't Rule Out Buying Corn from Brazil

By CnAgri2012-08-07 19:50:56 Print

Tyson Foods Inc, the biggest U.S. meat producer, said on Monday that it has not ruled out buying Brazilian corn due to a drought devastating the crop in the United States, but added that its current domestic supply cost less than imports.

"We run the math constantly and when it works that's an avenue for us," said Donnie Smith, president and chief executive officer of Tyson Foods on a conference call with analysts. "We've got a lot of truck corn bought from local farmers... the imported values out of Brazil wouldn't compete with the costs that we've got," he said after the company announced its quarterly earnings.

According to Reuters, Smithfield Foods and poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride, a unit of Brazil's JBS, already have said they are importing corn from Brazil as the worst U.S. drought in half a century has sent domestic corn prices through the roof and made imports more attractive.

Tyson raises its own chickens while buying cattle and hogs to be processed into beef and pork.

The U.S. corn crop has been shrinking amid the expanding drought, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in July cutting the size of the crop by 12 percent to 12.970 billion bushels. Analysts are expecting the department to cut its estimate further in a supply-demand report due on Friday.