CAN'T PROVE THIS, BUT....For decades, Reuters has been a reliable and legitimate wire service, with a large number of reporters (stringers) gathering and reporting news around the globe. Reuters also ranks as one of the least biased among the media.

REPORT:  Americans suffer meat shortages while U.S. companies export supplies to China By Jake Walker May 11, 2020



As workers in meat plants continue to fall sick with the coronavirus and factories shutter as a result, many Americans are suffering from meat shortages in their communities

In spite of this, much of the American meat supply is still being exported to China instead of being prioritized for delivery to Americans.

As Yahoo News Reports

Processors including Smithfield Foods, owned by China’s WH Group Ltd <0288 .hk="">, Brazilian-owned JBS USA [JBS.UL] and Tyson Foods Inc temporarily closed about 20 U.S. meat plants as the virus infected thousands of employees, prompting meatpackers and grocers to warn of shortages. Some plants have resumed limited operations as workers afraid of getting sick stay home.

The disruptions mean consumers could see 30% less meat in supermarkets by the end of May, at prices 20% higher than last year, according to Will Sawyer, lead economist at agricultural lender CoBank.

While pork supplies tightened as the number of pigs slaughtered each day plunged by about 40% since mid-March, shipments of American pork to China more than quadrupled over the same period, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Smithfield, which China’s WH Group bought for $4.7 billion in 2013, was the biggest U.S. exporter to China from January to March, according to Panjiva, a division of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Smithfield shipped at least 13,680 tonnes by sea in March, Panjiva said, citing its most recent data.

It’s absolutely stunning that one of America’s largest meat producers would feel brazen and shameless enough to deprive suffering Americans from direly needed food supplies while shipping the same badly needed products to a U.S. enemy.

MORE INFO     Reuters.......as-u-s-meat-workers-fall-sick-and-supplies-dwindle-exports-to-china-soar