Source:  MEATINGPLACE.COM, 1/13/11

Declining breast meat prices and escalating grain costs will erode Sanderson Farms’ profit margin in fiscal 2011, according to Stephens analyst Farha Aslam, who cut her forecast for the poultry producer’s earnings.
Separately, the landowners group opposed to Sanderson’s plans to build a new plant in Nash County issued a press release with an estimate for the amount of chicken litter the plant would generate annually -- 182 million pounds.

And a local newspaper reported Nash County officials announced this week they would repeat an industrial rezoning process conducted last November for the site being eyed for the Sanderson plant.

Profit outlook
Stephens’ Aslam reduced her fiscal 2011 earnings outlook for Sanderson to 80 cents a share from $1.00, saying poultry production has averaged 9 percent above year-ago levels in the last six weeks, with head slaughtered up about 5 percent to 6 percent.

Higher egg sets in the September-through-November time frame -- up 5 percent from 2009 levels -- drove the increase in production, Aslam said.

Meanwhile, grain futures have surged since Sanderson’s mid-December conference call and pricing across the chicken complex has continued to weaken entering 2011 due to supply increases and a seasonal slowdown.

Poultry litter
Sanderson’s proposed plant would be responsible for an additional 182 million pounds of chicken litter per year across seven Eastern North Carolina counties, said the Nash County Landowners Association, citing data from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

That equals roughly 386 pounds of waste for every resident in the seven-county area, or the equivalent of the the weight of 404 Statues of Liberty or 19,782 African elephants, the landowners group said.

Zoning snag
Nash County Planning Director Rosemary Dorsey said the rezoning process could be considered by the planning board as early as March, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported.

Nash County will propose amendments to the county’s current zoning procedures, according to the paper. Opponents of the plant have filed a lawsuit against Nash County for allegedly not following its ordinances during the rezoning process in November.

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