Sioux Falls' Morrell Expansion Delayed

October 31, 2006 — 

John Morrell & Co.'s $100-million, 232,000-square-foot expansion to upgrade the aging Sioux Falls, S.D., plant won't happen this year, and may be scrapped completely.

Dennis Treacy, Smithfield Foods vice president, told the Sioux Falls, Argus Leader newspaper, that Smithfield will continue to operate the Sioux Falls plant and that the facility will remain open "for the foreseeable future."

Treacy pointed to Smithfield's string of acquisitions as reasons for the shift in the Morrell plans. He said some of those deals gave Smithfield additional meatpacking plants and excess production capacity. "It's probably going to take another four to six months to figure this out," he said.

Source: Pork Magazine