As we prepare this year’s Mega Producer list it is interesting to see where the ownership of the biggest mega producers are based. Quick answer ASIA.
- Muyuan Foodstuff Co., Ltd., China, 3,130,000 sows (2,815,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
- Wens Food Group., Ltd., China, 1,570,000 sows (1,400,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
- Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods, Thailand, 1,115,000 sows (1,115,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
- New Hope, China, 820,000 sows (850,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
- Smithfield Foods/WH Group, United States – Hong Kong, 810,000 sows (885,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
- Twins Group, China, 550,000 sows (380,000 sows in 2023 World Mega Producer)
Editor’s note: Genesus has supplied Genetics to 4 of these 6 companies.
These six super Mega Companies have a combined 7,995,000 sows in production. Larger than the U.S. sow herd.
It is a reflection of the massive demand in ASIA for pork with China, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Philippines consuming over 60% of Global Pork Consumption. In the region over 50 million sows of the world’s 75-80 million. Asia – lots of people who want to eat pork.
Muyuan Foodstuff Co., Ltd. was established in 1992 and went public in 2014. A pork industry chain has been formed that integrates feed processing, pig breeding, pig farming, and slaughter processing. The total assets of the company exceed RMB 190 billion, with 150,000 employees and over 292 subsidiaries. Pig farming business covers 25 provinces, 108 cities, and 223 counties across the country.
Wens Foodstuff Group Co., Ltd. was established in 1983 and went public in 2015. It has now developed into a cross regional modern agricultural and animal husbandry enterprise group with livestock and poultry breeding as its main business, supporting operations such as slaughtering, food processing, modern agricultural and animal husbandry equipment manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals, fresh food marketing, and other related businesses. It now has 402 holding companies, 45,400 cooperative family farms, and 44,000 employees in over 20 provinces across the country.
Established in 1921, CP Group is a diversified multinational group company with three major businesses as its core including: agriculture and husbandry food, wholesale and retail, telecommunications and television. It also engages in more than 10 industry fields such as finance, real estate, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical processing. Its business covers more than 100 countries and regions, with over 450,000 employees. CP Group has established more than 600 enterprises in China with nearly 100,000 employees.
New Hope Group was established in 1982, with over 600 branches and subsidiaries in over 30 countries and regions worldwide, over 135000 employees, and a group asset size of over 340 billion yuan. New Hope Liuhe Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the group, was listed in 1998. New Hope Liuhe has become a global trading, processing, and sales company, covering feed processing, animal husbandry, food processing, financial investment, and scientific research services. The company’s business covers nearly 20 countries and regions.
Smithfield Foods is a global food company with farms, facilities and offices in the United States, Europe, and Mexico. Employs over 55,000 people who all work together to provide families worldwide with “Good food. Responsibly.®” The company ship meat exports to 4,600 customers in 40 countries around the globe. Smithfield is a subsidiary of WH Group, and these sow numbers are in addition to WH Group’s other company sow production numbers.
Twins Group was established in 1998 and is a large-scale national enterprise group specializing in pig farming, pig raising services, feed sales, grain cultivation and trade, pig slaughter and deep processing. The group has over 400 subsidiaries. Twins Group has made pig farming easier by building a comprehensive and professional pig farming service platform; Through closed-loop management of raw materials, feed, pig farming, slaughter, and sales, Twins aims to make pork safer and bring safe, healthy, and delicious pork to every household. In 2023 they led a restructuring of Zhengbang Group allowing Twins Group to grow in size from 380,000 sows in last year’s World Mega Producer to 550,000 sows.
We expect Asia will continue to dominate world pig production. At Genesus we have led the Genetic industry in swine exports over the last ten years to Asia. The main reason is Genesus has proven to achieve high production – lower mortality in the hot humid disease challenged environments and the Genesus dominance with genetics that produce better tasting pork.