PITTSBURG, Texas – Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. announced Tuesday that it has received final approval to access its $450 million debtor-in-possession financing facility.

The company had received interim approval in early December to access up to $365 million of the DIP facility arranged by the Bank of Montreal. The approval came from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Pilgrim’s Pride said the facility, combined with cash flows generated from ongoing operations, allows the company to continue its business operations on a normalized basis consistent with its pre-bankruptcy practices.

Source: Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

WASHINGTON – Mexico will reportedly resume imports from some of the plants it suspended, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Monday.

The country suspended imports from 30 plants because they had reportedly had two border violations that the operators say are of a technical or sanitary nature. Mexico will resume imports from 20 of the plants.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) told the media that corrective actions had been taken at 20 of the plants and its expects the bans to be removed. The remaining plants have submitted or will be submitting corrective action plans soon in hopes of resuming exports to Mexico.

Source: American Meat Institute

WASHINGTON – The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday signed a protocol to the U.S.-Russia Agreement on Trade in Certain Types of Poultry, Beef, and Pork. 

The protocol reportedly adjusts the in-quota quantity and out-of-quota tariff for American pork and poultry exported to the Russian Federation.

The Russian Federation is reportedly the number one market for U.S. poultry meat and the fourth largest market for U.S. pork. U.S. exports of poultry and pork to the Russian Federation reached $720 million and $191 million, respectively, in 2007.  

The National Chicken Council welcomed the announcement, saying it supports the arrangements and anticipates poultry exports to Russia will continue at a level very comparable to the estimated 760,000 metric tons in 2008.

Source: American Meat Institute, National Chicken Council