China's Growing Hunger for Meat Shown by Move to Buy Smithfield, World's Leading Pork Producer

Jun 06, 2013 | by
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Half the world's pigs -- more than 470 million of them -- live in China, but even that may not be enough to satisfy the growing Chinese appetite for meat. While meat consumption in the United States has fallen more than 5 percent since peaking in 2007, Chinese meat consumption has leapt 18 percent, from 64 million to 78 million (metric) tons -- twice as much as in the United States. Pork is by far China's favorite protein, which helps to explain the late-May announced acquisition of U.S. meat giant Smithfield Foods Inc., the world's leading pork producer, by the Chinese company Shuanghui International, owner of China's largest meat processor.

China's Growing Hunger for Meat Shown by Move to Buy Smithfield, World's Leading Pork Producer