Economy Blamed For Delay In Opening Arkansas Chicken Processing Plant

October 24, 2008 1:04 p.m. EST

Pine Bluff, AR (AHN) - A new chicken processing plant that would employ 300 people in Pine Bluff, AR, has been delayed because of the economy.

Pine Bluff Poultry LLC had announced last December that a new plant to process spent laying hens would open in Spring 2008, employing 300 workers paid $12 an hour. Pine Bluff Poultry bought an old plant that Tyson had vacated when it built a larger facility a few years ago.

But earlier this year Pine Bluff Poultry announced it was delaying opening the plant until November, now it says it won't open until January.

Company officials blamed the national crisis in credit markets for this latest delay. The company plans to spend $3 million over two years on the plant. The planned plant will process chickens from egg producers and other poultry companies.