COVID case hurting China meat industry

The jump in COVID-19 infections across China is hurting the country’s massive meatpacking industry, adding to signs of growing disruption from Beijing’s sudden dismantling of virus restrictions.

Slaughter rates for pigs have dropped in the past week, indicating a labor shortage at meat plants, according to Zhu Di, an analyst with Guangfa Futures.

Meat producers said employee attendance and production are quite unstable as workers are getting infected all around the same time.

The situation is similar to what happened in other countries early in the pandemic.

Meat plants were a hotspot of Covid-19 outbreaks in the U.S. and across Europe, in part due to the high density of workers in an indoor environment and the prolonged close contact of personnel on the production line.

Crypto miner CEO steps down

Crypto miner Bitfarms Ltd. said Chief Executive Officer Emiliano Grodzki has resigned and will be succeeded by current Chief Operating Officer Geoffrey Morphy.

The Toronto-based miner is one of the first public companies that started using specialized computers to secure the Bitcoin network and earn rewards in the digital asset.

It is among the largest miners, with 182-megawatt operating capacity and has mining facilities in the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Paraguay.

Crypto miners such as Bitfarms have been struggling to stay afloat as the mining industry reckons with a plunge in the digital-asset market.

From wire reports