Canada Resumes Imports From Biggest U.S. Pork Plant Run by Smithfield Foods

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, March 14 (Reuters) – Canada has resumed imports from the biggest U.S. pork-processing plant, a Smithfield Foods SFD.O facility in Tar Heel, North Carolina, after suspending shipments for about a week, the company said on Friday.

The halt temporarily limited a market for American pork products at a time when U.S. farmers fear that agricultural exports will suffer from tit-for-tat tariff disputes with major buyers including Mexico, Canada and China.

Smithfield CEO Shane Smith said this week that the facility’s suspension centered around a problem with offal products at the border and was unrelated to tariffs. Shares rose slightly on Friday.

“Canada temporarily suspended imports from this facility following an issue with a limited number of certain offal shipments,” company spokesperson Jim Monroe said.

The suspension lasted from March 6 to March 12, and pork items produced by the facility after March 12 are eligible for export to Canada again, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

Canada was the fifth-largest export market for U.S. pork last year, with shipments valued at about $850 million, USDA data show.

U.S. pork producers continue to face uncertainty over the impact of trade disputes on demand.

U.S. pork export sales of 20,262 metric tons in the week ended on March 6 were the lowest for the year so far and down 52% from the previous week, USDA said on Thursday.

On Sunday, hundreds of U.S. meat plants granted access to China, the world’s biggest pork consumer, in a 2020 trade deal with President Donald Trump are set to lose export eligibility.

“The hog market has been getting blasted over tariff fears and disruption to U.S. pork exports,” said Dan Norcini, an independent livestock trader.

“Any sort of news that is friendly towards U.S. pork exports, even if it is offal, helps to take some of the negative sentiment off.”

Lean hog futures LHJ25 rose at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Aurora Ellis)