# chinese buy smithfield



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

So I sit here and read in amazement that the chinese are buying Smithfield farms which includes the plants and 400 farms. How can anybody in their right mind let that deal happen. It also said in 5 years the chinese will own most US farmland. What is anybody going to eat? We all know most of what they produce here is all going back to china. So what do the rest of us eat. Its happening here to. Thank good I grow all my own food. Its sad how farmers and companys will sell to china. All they care about os getting the money. No worries about what the chinese have planned to do with the farms. I feel bad for urban people good luck to them poor buggers trying to get a meal soon. Its gonna cost a fortune just to eat. Canada and US are going to hell in a hurry.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Yep, the deal closed a couple of months back. I believe the stockholder vote was in September and the deal closed later that week.

So why did the Chinese buy SFD? My guess is that they have an ever growing middle class that is hungry and needs to be fed and are becoming more and more affluent thus their thirst for crude oil. Now they can afford to buy cars.

I guess to this point, they haven't been too successful/efficient at pig production. From what I read, disease and biosecurity are big hurddles for them.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

The thing I read said the deal is not totally done yet.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

ontario hay man said:


> The thing I read said the deal is not totally done yet.


I was thinking the same thing. I remember when the offer to buy was on the table a while back. Thought the U.S. government had put a hold on final approval.

Has the deal now been finalized?


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

The article in the paper I read today said its not


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Nope, its a done deal. Shareholders voted to approve the sale on 9-24 and the deal closed later that week. US govt. approved the sale earlier in September.

Are you reading about something that has come up since the end of September?


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I guess so? It was in the paper today


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Pursuit of a dollar for a dollars sake. To what end? Once upon a time a person would think about how their decisions would affect others. Not all but enough of them to set a tone of fairness and value of labor to pay to product pricing. Then the 80's happened then the 90's cronyism got worse people with no business in agriculture started playing hell with the futures market. Your and mine costs skyrocketed while our end of it shrank. Am I surprised no- not at all. Disheartened? Greatly. Dad always used to say when the Chinese got all our manufacturing and enough of our dollars they were gonna come back here buy us out for pennies on the dollar because we wanted a cheaper item at Wally World.

I apologize for the "black cloud" tone. Rant over


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

hillside hay said:


> Pursuit of a dollar for a dollars sake. To what end? Once upon a time a person would think about how their decisions would affect others. Not all but enough of them to set a tone of fairness and value of labor to pay to product pricing. Then the 80's happened then the 90's cronyism got worse people with no business in agriculture started playing hell with the futures market. Your and mine costs skyrocketed while our end of it shrank. Am I surprised no- not at all. Disheartened? Greatly. Dad always used to say when the Chinese got all our manufacturing and enough of our dollars they were gonna come back here buy us out for pennies on the dollar because we wanted a cheaper item at Wally World.
> 
> I apologize for the "black cloud" tone. Rant over


Dont apologize im right beside you on that one. I watch a show the odd time called dragons den also watch shark tank. If you dont know what the show is its basically a little fart like us has an idea and needs money they go to these shows and pitch their idea to investors. So many times I see the people making a product in their local market and wanting to continue doing that and employing local people and these stupid dunce cap investors tell them they will invest if they will let them make the products in china because they can make them there and ship em over for cheaper then they can make them at home. It is so stupid save a few cents and people at home are unemployed. I laughed when one guy argued them about it then told them to go screw themself. Maybe this was better in the boiler room lol it crossed my mind to put it there.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Yeah Ive seen those shows. Seems the common thread is to see if they can buy control of a product for a couple hundred thousand. Chinese pipe fittings have got to be the worst! My local supplier switched to Chinese a couple years back. Worst quality ever! Now I drive a couple more miles to buy fittings that say Canada or USA on them. When doing a hot tap on high pressure lines quality is a life or death issue.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

[quote name="hillside hay" post="113816" timestamp="1386287008"]Yeah Ive seen those shows. Seems the common thread is to see if they can buy control of a product for a couple hundred thousand. Chinese pipe fittings have got to be the worst! My local supplier switched to Chinese a couple years back. Worst quality ever! Now I drive a couple more miles to buy fittings that say Canada or USA on them. When doing a hot tap on high pressure lines quality is a life or death issue.[/quote
Ya my buddy died because the chinese hydraulic fittings on his skid steer let go and he was stupily underneath the boom when it did.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

If SFD (sorry for the former stock symbol) is now a subsidiary of (Chinese company name) and is based in Hong Kong, does SFD still have to pay federal and state income taxes? What is the corporate tax rate on federal income taxes? 35%?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I'm at the point where I'm buying older tools and equipment with as little Chinese content as possible to take my own little stand against the importation of their crap.

Mark my words, these people are going to over run us. Our government is to blame. Corp taxes too high, regs to restrictive, bad money policies.

I'm not a big trump fan, but he makes some good points. It's almost as if our government sets the table for the Chinese to destroy us.
I never thought I'd ever see anything like this in my life.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Lol you and me both! Last time a socket slipped on me and I busted my knuckles all to hell before I unloaded a semi trailer I swore it'd be the last! Turned that sucker over read "made in China" cussed a blue streak said I'd even take 'ol Hecho en Mexico over that pile of crap! Then, I calmly walked over to Dad's toolbox, took out his 50+ year old S&K set and finished the job. -_-


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Uuugh! Just had a thought Chinese bacon. Well, that's one way to get people to lower their cholesterol. RUIN BACON!


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

hillside hay said:


> Uuugh! Just had a thought Chinese bacon. Well, that's one way to get people to lower their cholesterol. RUIN BACON!


Thats their new slogan "Smithfield foods grown naturally in china- in test tubes lol


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Bacon flavored melamine,,,,,anyone???


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## ETXhayman (Jul 19, 2012)

Globalization at work. I use to really get worked up about foreign companies buying companies here in North America but I've come to the conclusion that there are times that it is needed and honestly welcomed. One example being when JBS the brazilian meat producer became the majority stockholder of Pilgrims Pride. Since the takeover production has increased and we are growing more chicken, bigger chicken, and taking home bigger paychecks. The company itself operates more efficiently that ever before.

I'm not saying there isn't reason to be alarmed at the takeover of Smithfield but it seems like the majority of Americans when they see "such an such foreign company buys such an such american company" they seem to think that its bad and is going to ruin the country and that simply just isn't the case the majority of the time.

On the topic of cheap chinese products. The only reason they continue to produce them and ship them over here is because we continue to buy them. From a macroeconomic view the consumer is to blame for the conditions of a given market.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Yeah, but painting kids toys with lead based paint or putting melamine in toothpaste or poison dog treats has nothing to do with us buying "cheap". It has to do with violating the trust of consumers by cutting corners and poisoning us or our pets. They buy American looking name brands and cheapen the ingredients or cut them with poison fillers. 
they know they can get away with it because of the distance and language barriers.


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## ETXhayman (Jul 19, 2012)

JD3430 said:


> Yeah, but painting kids toys with lead based paint or putting melamine in toothpaste or poison dog treats has nothing to do with us buying "cheap". It has to do with violating the trust of consumers by cutting corners and poisoning us or our pets. They buy American looking name brands and cheapen the ingredients or cut them with poison fillers.
> they know they can get away with it because of the distance and language barriers.


I agree with you to an extent, but at the end of the day if consumers would stop purchasing products that had "Made in China" on the back and started purchasing products that had "Made in the USA" we would not hear about the recalls and warnings about dangerous products coming from China. The Chinese wouldn't be able to keep their products on the shelves due to lost revenue here in the states. Instead of being on our shelves they would be on other countries shelves.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

ETXhayman said:


> I agree with you to an extent, but at the end of the day if consumers would stop purchasing products that had "Made in China" on the back and started purchasing products that had "Made in the USA" we would not hear about the recalls and warnings about dangerous products coming from China. The Chinese wouldn't be able to keep their products on the shelves due to lost revenue here in the states. Instead of being on our shelves they would be on other countries shelves.


Ya but if companies didnt get there junk made in china we could buy domestic products. I bet you could look for weeks for a product made in usa and canada they are just not available. You can say its because consumers buy it but certain items there is no option to buy domestic. Its because money hungry companies dont give a **** about us they care about MONEY in THEIR pocket. They dont care if they lay off 10000 people and then make them buy Chinese junk that they used to make.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

JD3430 said:


> I'm at the point where I'm buying older tools and equipment with as little Chinese content as possible to take my own little stand against the importation of their crap.
> 
> Mark my words, these people are going to over run us. Our government is to blame. Corp taxes too high, regs to restrictive, bad money policies.
> 
> ...


Say "Thank you, Mr. Clinton."

In 1998, Bill Clinton traveled to China and cut a secret trade deal with them. This deal was labeled "top secret" at the time.

I see he was back over there again Nov 18th, 2013.

Ralph


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## ETXhayman (Jul 19, 2012)

ontario hay man said:


> Ya but if companies didnt get there junk made in china we could buy domestic products. I bet you could look for weeks for a product made in usa and canada they are just not available. You can say its because consumers buy it but certain items there is no option to buy domestic. Its because money hungry companies dont give a **** about us they care about MONEY in THEIR pocket. They dont care if they lay off 10000 people and then make them buy Chinese junk that they used to make.


You are proving my point. Why would you no longer be able to find products made domestically and yet find products made overseas? No one bought the products made here. They bought the cheaper products made internationally. It's supply and demand in its most basic form. We demand a cheaper product and someone will supply it.

In an ideal market there will always be competition over similar products. Higher quality/price vs lower quality/price.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

ETXhayman said:


> You are proving my point. Why would you no longer be able to find products made domestically and yet find products made overseas? No one bought the products made here. They bought the cheaper products made internationally. It's supply and demand in its most basic form. We demand a cheaper product and someone will supply it.
> 
> In an ideal market there will always be competition over similar products. Higher quality/price vs lower quality/price.


The companies started making stuff there and cut off our options. On another note the wife just came out of the grocery store with garlic and guess where its grown. You guessed it. China. What the hell can no place around here supply stinkin garlic.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

ETXhayman said:


> I agree with you to an extent, but at the end of the day if consumers would stop purchasing products that had "Made in China" on the back and started purchasing products that had "Made in the USA" we would not hear about the recalls and warnings about dangerous products coming from China. The Chinese wouldn't be able to keep their products on the shelves due to lost revenue here in the states. Instead of being on our shelves they would be on other countries shelves.


Where is the consumer to find products made in the U.S.? The retailers buy and stock Made in China.

I have asked for American made products and the store clerk has no clue where anything is made. They stock what they are sent.

We have waited and allowed the inferior products to become what is offered. We felt sheltered by thinking our government would have some standard in place or that inferior would fall by the wayside. American companies went out of business and there is now competition.

We work for them now, have traded in tomorrow for today.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

ETXhayman said:


> I agree with you to an extent, but at the end of the day if consumers would stop purchasing products that had "Made in China" on the back and started purchasing products that had "Made in the USA" we would not hear about the recalls and warnings about dangerous products coming from China. The Chinese wouldn't be able to keep their products on the shelves due to lost revenue here in the states. Instead of being on our shelves they would be on other countries shelves.


For most products, its too late. 
We don't make anything anymore. Our govt regulations, union wages and enviro whackos chased almost all manufacturing away.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Yesterday I listened to a speaker whom I respect. He said this is a way the Chinese are trying to protect themselves against a2012 in their own corn belt where there is no surplus to fall back on. With the ethanol mandate flat lining it is a way of exporting more corn through pork.... Mel


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