Smithfield Merger Raises Concerns in the Senate
Smithfield Merger Scrutinized in Senate Hearing: Raises Concerns About Purchase by Chinese Company
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: The Senate Agriculture Committee recently held a hearing entitled, “Smithfield and Beyond: Examining Foreign Purchases of American Food Companies” to evaluate the proposed purchase of Smithfield Foods by the Shuanghui Group, a Chinese based conglomerate. If finalized, this acquisition would be the largest purchase of a U.S. corporation by a Chinese company. Read more from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
National Farmers Union has also raised grave concerns:
“Smithfield already controls 15 percent of domestic pork production and 26 percent of pork processing. It is already the dominant player in the market. If this acquisition is finalized, other American companies won’t just be competing against Smithfield – they’ll be competing with the Chinese government. The state-owned bank that finances Shuanghui, close connections between Shuanghui management and government officials, and the history of benefits provided to Chinese enterprises by their government indicate that a Chinese-owned Smithfield will continue to further dominate the market.”
They also pointed out that:
“Technologies and genetics developed in the United States – often funded by taxpayer dollars – and used by Smithfield will now be made freely available to our Chinese competitors. Given the already low production costs in China, these improvements will only help to allow Chinese interests to undercut U.S. pork export markets.
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