Officials of Smithfield Foods Inc, the world's largest pork producer and processor, said the company's exports of U.S. pork to the Chinese mainland jumped 45 percent in the first half of 2015 and would continue to grow for the rest of this year.
Smithfield President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Sullivan on Tuesday U.S. time said shipments to China benefited from the company being a wholly owned subsidiary of China-based pork processor WH Group Ltd, which acquired Smithfield for nearly $5 billion in 2013.
China's pork herd has declined this year, pushing up domestic meat prices and making imports more attractive.
"Our volume to China is up very strong on a year-on-year basis," Sullivan said on a conference call.
"I expect there is increasing demand from China. Certainly, the price levels there have gone up pretty significantly ... and the difference between the U.S. price and the China price, that gap has widened since last time we had a call in [the first quarter], so that makes it all the more favorable for trade."
Smithfield also has operations in Mexico, Poland and Romania.
Lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have surged more than 7 percent this week, its largest gain in six months. Prices were boosted in part on optimism over increased shipments of U.S. pork to China, traders and analysts said.
