January 21, 2010 (FinancialWire) — Smithfield Foods, Inc.’s (NYSE: SFD) said that its John Morrell & Co. unit will permanently close its hog processing and fresh meat fabrication plant located in Sioux City, Iowa, effective April 20, 2010. The closure will affect around 1,450 hourly and salaried employees.

The Sioux City plant processes hogs and produces boneless loins and other fresh pork products, according to Smithfield.

Smithfield said it will confer with union officials regarding the transition.

According to company executives, the Sioux City plant was constructed in 1959 and would require “significant capital expenditures” to outfit it with the latest pork processing technology. company officials cited the current economic environment as a reason why it would be difficult to invest sufficiently in the plant at this time.

The company said that three other Smithfield plants located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Denison, Iowa; and Crete, Nebraska have the capacity to partially absorb the number of hogs that are currently being processed at Sioux City and that it will transfer some of the Sioux City production to those plants in the near term.

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods is a processor and marketer of fresh pork and packaged meats in the United States, as well as a producer of hogs.

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