Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor in the world, will close its Vernon, California, plant and reduce its hog herd in the West, the company announced Friday.
The closure, which the company attributed in a statement to “the escalating cost of doing business in California,” comes as the state rolls out a new law requiring livestock be given more spacious confinements.
Smithfield, owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group Ltd (0288.HK), did not immediately respond to a Reuters inquiry about whether the law, known as Proposition 12, contributed to the decision to close the plant.
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