1651 ET - Meatpackers are making a profit again on slaughtering hogs as the cost of grains used to feed livestock plummets. The owner of Smithfield Foods, Chinese pork producer WH Group, reports a swing to a $80 million profit in its U.S. and Mexico pork division for the nine months that ended Sept. 30 compared with a $551 loss the prior year. The company attributed the swing to lower costs and operational changes it made over the past year. Seaboard, another major pork processor, says its pork operating income improved $52 million for the three months that ended Sept. 28 from the same period a year earlier. The company said feed costs declined $41 million from the prior year. American pork producers had been struggling with a glut of hogs, high costs and volatile exports for the past few years. (patrick.thomas@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 29, 2024 16:51 ET (20:51 GMT)
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