TYSON Foods Inc, the largest United States meat producer, said it plans to buy domestic companies and expand internationally as the global credit crisis roils financial markets, lowering the cost of potential acquisitions.

"We've got about US$1.5 billion in the bank ready to take advantage of opportunities, whether they're domestic or they're in the three growth countries: Brazil, China and India," Chairman John Tyson said on Sunday in an interview with Bloomberg News.

The worsening global credit crunch caused financial markets to tumble with the MSCI World Index losing 20 percent last week, the most since records began in 1970. Shares of food and commodity-related companies have been hit hard as concern economic growth will slow caused a slump in raw-material prices such as grains and investors to shy away from riskier assets.

"It's a smart move for Tyson as asset valuations have fallen a lot across the board and may come down further," said Renee Tai, a consumer-goods analyst at CIMB-GK Securities Pte in Hong Kong. "Companies that have a lot of cash like Tyson can take this chance to expand into new markets or increase market share at a cheaper price."

The company may buy poultry interests in the US if "it helps balance out customer needs," and it may also buy plants that prepare beef and pork products, Tyson said, without identifying potential acquisition targets. "There's a Wall Street problem, and the rest of the country is running better than I think people are giving credit for."

The company is also further expanding globally, said the 55-year-old chairman, who spoke in Weifang of east China's Shandong Province. "Brazil and China are significantly ahead of where India is, but there's a lot of potential in India also."