Tyson Foe May Leave State
by May 12, 2003 12:00 am 74 views
Some officials from Sanderson Farms Inc. of Laurel, Miss., visited El Dorado on May 7 and spent most of the day at the ConAgra Foods Inc. plant.
ConAgra is the biggest competitor to Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc. It is believed to be looking to divest many of its fresh chicken operations. Sanderson also visited ConAgra plants in Farmerville, La., Enterprise, Ala., Paducah, Ky., and Dalton and Gainesville, Ga.
The El Dorado operation has 1,450 employees.
Sanderson Farms is coming off a strong fiscal first quarter where it had $184.2 million in net sales, a 12 percent increase from its first quarter of 2002.
Sanderson Farms produces, processes, markets and distributes fresh and frozen chicken and prepared food items. It also sells chill pack, ice pack and frozen chicken, both whole and cut-up. During the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2002, Sanderson Farms processed about 264.7 million chickens.