Tyson, the largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the US, on Monday reported its first loss in six quarters in part because it had not been able to pass the cost of feeding its birds on to consumers.

Tyson suffered operating losses in its chicken business because of feed costs but also had trouble with expenses in its beef business, in part due to plant restructuring.

For the quarter to the end of March, the company reported a loss of $5m, or 2 cents per share, compared with a $68m profit, or 19 cents per share, a year ago.

The results included $47m, or 8 cents a share in charges, because of plant closings and asset impairments.

Excluding charges, earnings would have been 6 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations according to Reuters of a cent per share. Revenue in the quarter was $6.6bn, compared with $6.5bn a year earlier.

Unlike in its beef and pork businesses where Tyson buys livestock from outside farmers, the company rears chickens itself and so is hit more by rising feed costs.

The company said that the higher price of corn and soyabeans would add about $600m to costs this year in its chicken business, which made up about a third of sales this quarter.

Cooking oil, breading and feed ingredients such as vitamins could be among factors adding a further $400m to costs. Last year, corn and soy costs doubled to $2bn.

The company’s chicken business recorded an operating loss of $61m for the quarter as feed costs rose £102m.

The company blamed the rising use of grains in biofuels for the inflation of costs and said that consumers had yet to feel the full weight of the price increases.

“We can’t raise prices fast enough to keep up with the rising costs of our inputs,” said Richard Bond, chief executive.

“Consumers are concerned the prices they are paying now but the cost we and other producers in all proteins are currently incurring are only beginning to be passed on to the consumer.”

Tim Ramey, an analyst at DA Davidson, said that consumers had only seen about a 5-10 per cent increase in the cost of meat, but expects an increase of as much 100 per cent. “Consumers haven’t really seen much yet,” he said.

Analysts said that Tyson’s outlook was better because of lower production helping to lift margins as well as South Korea dropping a ban on US beef imposed in 2003 after cases of mad-cow disease were discovered.