Smithfield Foods
Chinese-owned American meat processing company / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese-owned conglomerate WH Group.[4][lower-alpha 1] Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter and his son, the company is the largest pig and pork producer in the world.[5] In addition to owning over 500 farms in the US, Smithfield contracts with another 2,000 independent farms around the country to raise Smithfield's pigs.[6] Outside the US, the company has facilities in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.[7] Globally the company employed 50,200 in 2016 and reported an annual revenue of $14 billion.[2] Its 973,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was said in 2000 to be the world's largest, slaughtering 32,000 pigs a day.[8]
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Meat processing |
Founded | 1936; 88 years ago (1936), as Smithfield Packing Company, Smithfield, Virginia, United States |
Founders | Joseph W. Luter, Sr. Joseph W. Luter, Jr. |
Headquarters | 200 Commerce Street, Smithfield, Virginia |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Shane Smith (CEO) |
Products |
|
Production output |
|
Brands | Cook's, Eckrich, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Krakus, and Smithfield, among others |
Revenue | US$14.4 billion (2015)[2] |
US$793.8 million (2015)[2] | |
US$452.3 million (2015)[2] | |
Total assets | US$9.9 billion (2015)[2] |
Total equity | US$4.8 billion (2015)[2] |
Number of employees | 50,200 (2016)[2] |
Parent | WH Group[3] |
Website | www |
Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion.[9][10] It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date.[11] The acquisition of Smithfield's 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland.[lower-alpha 2]
Smithfield Foods began its growth in 1981 with the purchase of Gwaltney of Smithfield,[13] followed by the acquisition of nearly 40 companies between then and 2008, including:
- Eckrich
- Farmland Foods of Kansas City
- John Morrell
- Murphy Family Farms of North Carolina
- Circle Four Farms of Utah
- Premium Standard Farms[14]
- Nathan's Famous
- Healthy Ones
The company was able to grow as a result of its highly industrialized pig production, confining thousands of pigs in large barns known as concentrated animal feeding operations, and controlling the animals' development from conception to packing.[8]
As of 2006 Smithfield raised 15 million pigs a year and processed 27 million, producing over six billion pounds of pork[1] and, in 2012, 4.7 billion gallons of manure.[15] Killing 114,300 pigs a day, it was the top pig-slaughter operation in the United States in 2007; along with three other companies, it also slaughtered 56 percent of the cattle processed there until it sold its beef group in 2008.[16][lower-alpha 3] The company has sold its products under several brand names, including Cook's, Eckrich, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Krakus, and Smithfield.[17] Shane Smith has been the president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods since July 2021.[18]