August 18, 2006

Japan's Sumitomo to import pork from Poland

Sumitomo Corp has teamed up with major US meat company Smithfield Foods Inc to commence its first imports of Polish pork as it seeks to expand overseas sources of meat and processed foods, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Friday (Aug 18) morning edition.

Each year, the general trading company will purchase from Smithfield's Polish subsidiary around 10,000 tonnes of frozen meat for use by restaurants and processed food companies. The Ministry of Agriculture had until February banned imports of pork from Poland because foot-and-mouth disease was considered epidemic there.

Sumitomo plans to buy US ham, sausage and bacon from Smithfield starting sometime next year, and may also procure ham from Spain.

Following the suspension of poultry imports from Thailand and China due to bird flu, Sumitomo has been buying 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes of chicken each year from a Smithfield facility in Poland.

Since the 1980s, Sumitomo has held a roughly one percent stake in Smithfield, the world's largest pork processor, and imports 20,000 tonnes of US pork annually.