Pilgrim’s Pride Reports Fiscal 2Q Loss

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the world’s biggest poultry processor, said Monday it lost $111.4 million, or $1.67 per share in its fiscal second quarter, compared with a  loss of $40.1 million, or 60 cents, a year ago.

Sales for the quarter ended March 29 rose to $2.1 billion from $1.99 billion, the company said in a statement.

Pilgrim’s Pride said in March that it would close a U.S. chicken-processing plant, six distribution centers and cut 1,100 jobs.

The company at the time blamed U.S. ethanol policies for pushing the industry into “crisis,” Bloomberg reported.

With 1,400 tractors and more than 2,000 trailers, Pilgrim’s Pride is ranked No. 12 on the Transport Topics Private 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian private carriers.