CHICAGO, March 14 (Reuters) - Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) will close two U.S. chicken plants with almost 1,700 employees on May 12, the company said on Tuesday.
Tyson will shut a plant in Glen Allen, Virginia, with 692 employees and a plant in Van Buren, Arkansas, with 969 employees, according to a statement.
"The current scale and inability to economically improve operations has led to the difficult decision to close the facilities," Tyson said.
Shuttering plants is difficult but justified as Tyson seeks to improve performance, said Arun Sundaram, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.
Tyson had about 124,000 U.S. employees as of Oct. 1, including 118,000 workers at non-corporate sites like meat plants, regulatory filings show.