SMITHFIELD Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork producer and processor, said its U.S. pork exports to China jumped 45 percent in the first six months of 2015 and would continue to grow for the rest of this year, company officials said Tuesday.

    Smithfield president and chief executive officer Ken Sullivan said pork shipments to China benefited from the company being a wholly owned subsidiary of China-based pork processor WH Group Ltd., which acquired Smithfield for nearly US$5 billion in 2013.

    China’s pork herd has declined this year, pushing up domestic meat prices and making imports more attractive.

    “Our volume to China is up very strong on a year-on-year basis,” Sullivan said on the call.

    “I expect there is increasing demand from China. Certainly, the price levels there have gone up pretty significantly ... and the difference between the U.S. price and the China price, that gap has widened since last time we had a call in (the first quarter), so that makes it all the more favorable for trade.”(SD-Agencies)