HONG KONG – WH Group Ltd., the China-based parent company of Smithfield Foods Inc., released its 2023 third-quarter financial results showing difficult business conditions in its US markets.

According to numbers provided by the company for the first nine months, operating profit loss in the United States and Mexico stood at $551 million.

“Such loss was primarily attributable to the unfavorable market conditions in the US, which included the high costs of hog production and low sales value of pork products,” the company said in its filing.

The meat producer also posted $585 million in profit over the first three quarters, compared to $834 million in 2022 during the same time. In its outlook for the remainder of the year, WH Group projected challenging times for its pork business in North America. 

“We expect such unfavorable operating landscape overhang will continue during the remainder of 2023,” WH Group stated. “As a result, the short-term financial performance of our Group will be under pressure. To meet these challenges, we will focus on optimizing our industrial value chain. We will rigorously continue to promote adjustment of product mix, expand sales network, manage prices and control costs. We will also leverage our global presence to better deploy resources and deepen synergies realization.”

Total revenue for WH Group decreased 4.5% to $19.49 billion.

Packaged meats sales for the company in the United States decreased 6.8%, and revenue dropped 11.3% as both sales volume and prices fell.