# US meatpacking plants close on COVID outbreaks

> Plant closures back up cattle and hogs on farms; Defense Production Act order keeps plants open.

- Date: 2020-04-28 · published 2020-04-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: disease · region US
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/11-us-meatpacking-plants-close-on-covid-outbreaks
- Commodities: [Live Cattle](https://feedsoft.ai/c/LCATTLE.md), [Feeder Cattle](https://feedsoft.ai/c/FCATTLE.md), [Lean Hogs](https://feedsoft.ai/c/HOGS.md)

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HOGS | 2020-05-06 | 5 | +20.5% | 3.4 | COVID-driven packing plant closures sharply cut slaughter capacity and wholesale pork supply, and the April 28 Defense Production Act order to reopen plants boosted expectations of renewed packer demand for hogs, plausibly driving the sharp rally in Lean Hog futures into early May. |
| HOGS | 2020-05-06 | 5 | +20.0% | 4.0 | COVID-driven packing plant closures sharply cut slaughter capacity and wholesale pork supply, and the April 28 Defense Production Act order to reopen plants boosted expectations of renewed packer demand for hogs, plausibly driving the sharp rally in Lean Hog futures into early May. |
| HOGS | 2020-04-30 | 1 | +6.2% | 3.5 | The April 28 Defense Production Act order to keep meatpacking plants open raised expectations that slaughter capacity would recover, which would ease the backlog of hogs on farms and restore packer demand for live hogs, supporting a sharp rebound in lean hog futures. |
| LCATTLE | 2020-05-12 | 5 | +9.2% | 3.2 | Meatpacking plant closures from COVID outbreaks cut slaughter capacity and disrupted the cattle supply chain; the Defense Production Act order to keep plants open and the later restart of processing plausibly fueled the sharp rebound in live cattle futures (supply/demand sentiment). |
| LCATTLE | 2020-04-27 | 5 | -7.4% | -3.5 | Meatpacking plant closures from COVID outbreaks cut slaughter capacity and cattle demand from packers, backing up cattle on farms and pressuring live cattle futures; the event is dated one day after the window ends, but the closures and the buildup of disruption were developing during the move, so it likely contributed though the date mismatch lowers confidence. |
| HOGS | 2020-05-03 | 5 | +18.0% | 3.2 | The Defense Production Act order keeping meatpacking plants open on Apr 28 eased fears of prolonged closures and supported a rebound from depressed prices, though the plant closures themselves back up hogs on farms. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LCATTLE | 2025-04-29 | [US, Mexico step up joint efforts to contain flesh-eating parasite outbreak](https://feedsoft.ai/events/25086-us-mexico-step-up-joint-efforts-to-contain-flesh-eating-parasite-outbreak.md) | +0.5% | +2.5% |
| LCATTLE | 2021-12-08 | [Animal health experts: US ag needs to be prepared for disease outbreaks - Farm and Dairy](https://feedsoft.ai/events/16314-animal-health-experts-us-ag-needs-to-be-prepared-for-disease-outbreaks-farm-and.md) | -0.8% | -0.7% |
| LCATTLE | 2025-10-23 | [Mexican ag minister to discuss with US counterpart opening border to cattle amid screwworm outbreak \| Reuters](https://feedsoft.ai/events/22362-mexican-ag-minister-to-discuss-with-us-counterpart-opening-border-to-cattle.md) | -2.0% | -7.9% |
| LCATTLE | 2026-07-19 | [What the U.S. can learn from Mexico's handling of the screwworm outbreak - VPM](https://feedsoft.ai/events/18298-what-the-u-s-can-learn-from-mexico-s-handling-of-the-screwworm-outbreak-vpm.md) | -1.4% | -2.8% |
| LCATTLE | 2020-04-13 | [Economists hypothesize plant closure impacts](https://feedsoft.ai/events/53797-economists-hypothesize-plant-closure-impacts.md) | -2.4% | -5.5% |
| FCATTLE | 2025-04-29 | [US, Mexico step up joint efforts to contain flesh-eating parasite outbreak](https://feedsoft.ai/events/25086-us-mexico-step-up-joint-efforts-to-contain-flesh-eating-parasite-outbreak.md) | +1.5% | +2.2% |
| FCATTLE | 2020-05-12 | [How coronavirus disrupted California meat plants - Los Angeles Times](https://feedsoft.ai/events/53262-how-coronavirus-disrupted-california-meat-plants-los-angeles-times.md) | +2.4% | +8.6% |
| FCATTLE | 2025-06-06 | [Screwworm outbreak poses challenges to US DDGS demand amid uncertain cattle market](https://feedsoft.ai/events/24314-screwworm-outbreak-poses-challenges-to-us-ddgs-demand-amid-uncertain-cattle.md) | +0.7% | +1.5% |

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.