March 11, 2010

Smithfield CEO: ‘They’re not going to eat electronics’

NORFOLK—The chairman of the world’s largest pork packing company is bullish on foreign trade and the prospects for boosting Virginia’s farm exports in 2010.

Larry Pope, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods Inc., told participants at the second annual International Agricultural Trade Workshop on March 3 that export prospects are enormous from Eastern Europe all the way through Asia.

“They’re not going to eat electronics, they’re going to eat what you produce,” Pope said, speaking of China and other Asian trade partners of the United States. “As far as food production is concerned, the U.S. is miles ahead of the world, and I’m not worried about us at all.”

In today’s global marketplace, businesses can get their supplies from anywhere,” he said. “And we often have an advantage; our products are often worth more overseas than they are here.”

Pope spoke of how Smithfield takes the cuts of meat that American consumers typically don’t buy and sells them to customers overseas. “He’s using every bit of the hog but the squeal,” said Billy Park, Mecklenburg County Farm Bureau president.

But trade can be a double-edged sword. While Russia purchased $289 million in U.S. pork products in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a trade dispute has cut off all pork sales to Moscow since December. Pope spoke of the need to continue working for trade agreements that benefit everyone. There are free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea currently waiting for Congressional approval, and the latest round of world trade talks has been stalled for more than a year over disagreements on agricultural trade.

“I’m in favor of free trade, no tariffs, even for agriculture,” Pope said. “Sure, every country is going to have some tariffs to protect their consumers and their core industries, but beyond that let us compete.”

Contact Norm Hyde, VFBF senior video producer, at 804-290-1146.