April 29 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods ( SFD ), the

biggest U.S. pork processor, reported higher than expected

first-quarter sales and earnings on Tuesday as its hog

production business rebounded from a steep loss in operating

profit last year.

The Virginia-based company's larger packaged meats and fresh

pork units reported higher sales but lower operating profits

than a year ago.

Smithfield restructured its hog production business, which

raises pigs for the company to process into meat, to cut costs

in recent years as the U.S. pork industry struggled with excess

supplies and low pig prices.

The company ended operations on farms in Missouri and other

states and shifted toward buying more hogs for processing,

rather than owning them while they are being raised, to reduce

the company's exposure to volatile commodity markets.

The hog production business reported operating profit of $1

million in the quarter that ended on March 30, compared to a

loss of $174 million a year earlier. Its sales jumped 32% to

$932 million.

Smithfield has focused on selling pork, ham and sausages

under brands including Eckrich and Nathan's Famous, rather than

on producing hogs, because its packaged meats business can earn

higher margins.

The packaged meats unit reported quarterly sales of $2

billion, up 1.2%, while its operating profit slumped 7% to $266

million.

Smithfield, which went public in January, said last month

that cautious consumer spending and higher raw material costs

were crimping profit in its packaged meats business.

The company posted a 9.5% rise in total sales to $3.77

billion in the quarter, above analysts' expectations for $3.62

billion, according to LSEG data. It earned 58 cents per share in

adjusted profit from continuing operations, compared with 32

cents a year earlier.

The company reaffirmed its annual sales forecast in the

low-to-mid-single-digit percentage range compared to last year,

and packaged meats adjusted operating profit of $1.05 billion to

$1.15 billion.

(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru and Tom Polansek in

Chicago; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Emelia

Sithole-Matarise)