Energy Needs Up Cost of Food, Meat Exec Says
US - Thanks to rising energy and grain costs, higher food prices are probably here to stay, an executive from the world's largest processor of beef, chicken and pork said Thursday at the University of Tulsa.
18 January 2008
2 minute read
Yet Tyson Foods Inc. Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelson believes that companies like his can turn the tables somewhat by finding greater uses for its byproducts, including turning animal fat into fuel.
"What we're finding out in the end is that it's all connected," Miquelson said during his TU Friends of Finance speech at the Allen Chapman Activity Center.
"Growth is always an imperative," he added, "but growth is never easy to do."
Tyson may incur an additional $600 million or more in feed costs during the next fiscal year, he noted. The Springdale, Ark.-based food giant is on the rebound -- record sales of $27 billion were reported for 2007 after the company lost close to $150 million in fiscal 2006.
Two-thirds of Tyson's costs for raising chickens are tied up in feed. These types of inflationary pressures cannot help but find their way to consumer prices, Miquelson said.
