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Hong-Kong based WH Group ( WHGRF ) spins off Smithfield Foods

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Smithfield shares make muted return to US exchange

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CEO monitors trade, immigration policy under Trump

By Tom Polansek and Juveria Tabassum

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods does not plan to

close more U.S. pork processing plants, Chief Executive Shane

Smith said on Tuesday, as the company returned to a U.S.

exchange after more than a decade in a spinoff by Hong

Kong-based WH Group ( WHGRF ).

The biggest U.S. pork processor also is paying close

attention to trade and immigration policy changes under U.S.

President Donald Trump as it exports pork and relies on a

diverse group of meatpacking workers, Smith said in an

interview.

WH Group ( WHGRF ), the world's largest pork producer, spun off

Smithfield as Trump has threatened tariffs on imports from major

pork consumers, including China and Mexico, that could trigger

retaliatory duties that hurt U.S. agricultural exports.

Smithfield was valued at $8.1 billion after its

shares ticked up in a muted debut.

Before the listing, the company carved out its European

business, ended contracts with some U.S. hog farms and shut a

California pork plant in recent years.

"We believe that really the heavy lifting is done," Smith

said. "This next phase will be focused on growth."

U.S. farmers, who deliver hogs to processing plants, and

slaughterhouse workers have been on edge about the risk for

further plant closures.

Smithfield closed a plant in Vernon, California, and another

in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2023. It also stopped

slaughtering pigs at its hometown plant in Smithfield, Virginia,

in 2021.

The company is not alone: Tyson Foods ( TSN ) shut an Iowa

pork plant last year, and has closed U.S. poultry plants with

thousands of workers.

"I think the hog supply is relatively well balanced for that

shackle space," Smith said.

Smithfield looks to use more of its fresh pork in its

packaged meats business to reduce its exposure to export

markets, Smith said. It can also redirect offal products, such

as kidneys or stomachs, to U.S. pet food companies from China, a

major buyer, he added.

Export sales represented 13% of Smithfield's total sales for

the nine months ended Sept. 29, according to a regulatory

filing.

"If there are further tariff escalations that make those

markets that we go to with that product not attractive, we

always think about it in the terms of the next best sale," Smith

said.

Trump has also kicked off a sweeping immigration crackdown.

More than half of all U.S. meatpacking workers are immigrants,

compared with about 17% of the entire workforce, according to

the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank.