China-based WH Group, parent company of Smithfield Foods, has carved out its European operations, forming Morliny Foods.
Those European operations were formerly known as Smithfield Europe.
By spinning off Morliny Foods from the WH Group’s U.S.-based Smithfield Foods subsidiary, Morliny has adopted a “region-specific growth strategy to address a more fragmented European market with different market dynamics than in North America.”
The business supplies fresh pork, poultry and packaged meats across Europe, and has operations in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain and the U.K.
Luis Cerdan is the CEO of Morliny Foods.
“We will benefit by being a nimbler competitor with a focused strategy addressing the European food market,” said Cerdan. "We are confident this step will accelerate growth opportunities for our people and our company."
Shane Smith, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods, also saw benefits of separating the two businesses.
"It's the right time to establish our North American and European operations as stand-alone businesses empowered to execute distinct strategies addressing different market environments and opportunities," said Smith. "In doing so, we provide our respective management teams with increased decision-making agility, optimizing the performance and prospects for each business."
WH Group is the largest pork company in the world with the top market share in China, the United States and markets in Europe. It owns many brands and is differentiated by global market leadership in all segments of the pork value chain, including packaged meats, fresh pork and hog production. The group conducts its operations through Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co., Ltd., the largest animal protein company in Asia, Smithfield Foods in North America and Morliny Foods.
WH Group is also involved in poultry production. According to the WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies Database, it slaughtered 204 million broilers in 2023. It is Asia’s 15th largest poultry producer.
