WH Group performance falls short in first half of 2015

The turnover of WH Group fell to US$10.205 billion, decreasing 3.2 percent year-on-year as of the end of June, according to a report of Hong Kong Ming Pao. As the largest meat processing company in China, the volume of business of WH Group is influenced by the China’s economic slowdown and the drop of U.S. pig prices. The net profit of the company increased 0.3 percent to US$5.62 million.
Wan Long, president of WH Group, parent company of Smithfield Foods, said the company still faces uncertain conditions in the second half of the year, the goal of securing an earnings growth of 10 percent for 2015 might not be achieved. However, he is confident about the increase in the coming years with the adjustment in 2015.
In the first six months of 2015, pig prices in China have increased dramatically. Wan Long said the company planned to import U.S. pork products to China to take the advantage of price differences. The import might increase from the 110 thousand metric tons in 2014 to between 150,000 and 200,000 metric tons in 2015. He also forecasted that pig prices in China might fall to US$2.35 per 2.5/kg for the third and four quarter of this year.