China-owned Smithfield Foods sees profits swell on pork demand

Top US pork processor Smithfield Foods (SFD.NYSE) — owned by Chinese company WH Group (0288.HKG),  itself the largest pork producer in the world — reported a sharp gain in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2014, benefiting from demand for bacon and other packaged meat products, The Wall Street Journal reported. The surge to US$152.6 million from US$34.7 million a year earlier comes despite the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus that is affecting producers all over North America and which has killed millions of young pigs, though it has no effect on human health or food safety.