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WH Group’s US pork processing plant to reopen in stages amid coronavirus controversy
- Smithfield Foods’ plant in Sioux Falls resumed operations after a more than three-week shutdown, with full operations by end of May
- Plant is part of Chinese-owned WH Group, which rang up US$24 billion in annual sales in 2019
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Smithfield Foods, a US unit of China’s biggest pork company, has reopened its processing plant after President Donald Trump ordered the US meatpacking industry to stay open despite an earlier coronavirus outbreak in such facilities across America.
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The plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota resumed operations in stages from Thursday after shutting down more than three weeks ago, and aims to be fully operational by late May, Smithfield said in a statement.
Smithfield is the largest pork producer in the US and owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group, with US$24.1 billion in sales last year. Its South Dakota facility is the ninth-largest in America, responsible for producing 4 to 5 per cent of the country’s consumption requirement.
Sioux Falls was thrust into the spotlight after becoming the largest coronavirus hotspot in the US, with 761 employees testing positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to local newspaper Argus Leader. The ranking has since decreased, it said.
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Meat processing plants are among the greatest US coronavirus hotspots. More than 4,900 workers tested positive and 20 died from 115 plants across 19 states in March and April, according to a Bloomberg report.
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