Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Robert Moskow: Hi. Thanks for the question. I guess the follow-up is it sounds like there is no change to your production plan for chicken. I think you had a plan of 42 million head per week. Is that still the same? And I don’t know, like do you still have to harvest 15% more chicken now in order to satisfy the demand that you have three months from now? Is it €“ are you still at a 15% increase in production?

Donnie King: So, let me make sure I separate it for you. Great question, by the way. One is head and one is weight. The 15% is weight. The head is different. We have talked in terms of in fiscal €˜23, by the end of fiscal €˜23, we would be at about 42 million head a week. And that’s still the plan. I would also tell you that the plan is €“ I mean, the demand is there to support 42 million chickens a week. And if that changes, we will change. But that’s what we see right now as we look at the demand picture. The other thing that I think that €“ and I will just say it as we talked about the beef cycle and the pork cycle and herd health and so forth, I think it’s €“ if you look at what happened in Q1, I think every chicken company in America, read the headlines around there is going to be less beef, less pork, and the natural belief is that chicken will fill that gap.

But the problem with all of that is there wasn’t a gap in beef and pork in Q1. And so I think you are seeing even now based on the numbers that Wes quoted earlier, you are seeing adjustments in the marketplace relative to that. And €“ but we will always balance our supply with what our demand needs are. And I just €“ it’s just the fundamental tenet of how we operate this business and have operated for many years.

Robert Moskow: Okay. I guess the follow-up is, I have gotten questions from investors asking whether this is an indication of much weaker demand from consumers. Would you describe it that way, or is it really oversupply that’s been the issue. And then in the back half of your fiscal year, you think that, that’s what’s going to correct? It’s not really demand needs to get better. It’s that the supply needs to normalize?

Donnie King: I think you are spot on relative to that. And you are €“ I think you are already seeing adjustments in terms of the supply plan. I would tell you and I don’t want to mislead you or anyone else on this. There is some, there is unusual erratic to describe a behavior as it relates between channel swapping and even parts of the store and how €“ what’s going on there. Swapping between proteins, all the normal things that you would know from all your years of covering this protein sector, they are all in play. But I think this is €“ I think in Q1, this was a supply issue first and foremost. Secondly, there was some shifting in what part of the store and what products were purchased.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Ben Theurer with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Ben Theurer: Yes. Good morning and thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to dig a little bit into if you could explain in more detail what happened on the derivatives in both cases chicken and pork? And if there is something else outstanding that might go wrong going forward and how you are planning on trying to not run into this? Because I think you said on pork, without the derivatives, it would have been positive, but then obviously, because of there has been were negative, so just to understand a little bit of that dynamic. That would be my first question.

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