Dear friends, dear investors, welcome to our 2022 interim results announcement. Our management is going to take you through financial summary, business review, and strategies and outlook. Allow me to introduce members of the management. They include Mr. Wan Long, our Chairman, Mr. Guo Lijun, our CEO, and from Shuanghui, Mr. Ma Xiangjie, Mr. Liu Songtao, our CFO, and from Smithfield, CEO, Mr. Shane Smith, and Mr. Glenn Nunziata, our CFO, and Madam Zheng Xiyan, our CEO. I'm Wan Hongwei, I'm the host for tonight. Now, I will pass the floor to our management to talk about our financial performance and then proceed to Q&A. Mr. Guo. Good evening, everyone. I will report to you the financial overview for the first half of the year. In the first half, packaged meat sold 1.612 million tons, a drop of 0.1%.
Pork sold 2.031 million tons, a drop of 5%. Revenue realized $13.4 billion, up by 0.5%. EBITDA realized $1.54 billion, up 25.6%. Operating profit $1.211 billion, up 31%. Profit before tax $1.088 billion, up 31%. Profit for the period $837 million, up 27%. Profit attributable to owners of the company $701 million, up 30.1%. Basic earnings per share $0.0546, up 49.2%. Based on the decision of the board, interim dividend per share HKD 0.05. Registration date: September 2. Dividend payout date: September 30. If you look at segment revenue and operating profit, packaged meat is still our core.
In the first half, contribution to revenue is 52.8%, and more than 89% of profit. Pork business contribution to revenue 41.4% and 10.2% to our profit. Others, 5.8% contribution to revenue and 0.5% to profit. China's contribution 32.6% to revenue, 44.3% to profit. U.S. contribution 57.2% to revenue and 51.1% to profit. Europe, 10.2% contribution to revenue and 4.6% to profit. If you look at the operating environment in the first half, due to the pandemic and geopolitical events, commodity prices fluctuated at high levels. Inflationary pressures intensified. Concerns about global recession emerged and consumer confidence weakened. COVID-19 continued to impact China's economy and household consumption. Hog prices bottomed out as supply and demand returned to normal.
Integration of hog production and slaughtering sectors accelerated, and market competition intensified. U.S. hog prices remained at a high level due to increased hog production costs and reduced supply. Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages eased, but still posed challenges. Hog prices in Europe increased as supply reduced. Geopolitical tensions, soaring grain and energy prices, and currency depreciation created challenges for business operations. WH Group proactively adjusted its business strategy, gradually reduced the impact of the ASF and COVID-19, promoted structural adjustment, efficiency improvement, and cost control, and absorbed extreme inflationary pressure. The group's earnings significantly increased in the first half, reaching a historical high. In the first half, number of slaughtered hogs in China increased by 8.4% to 366 million heads in the first half.
Number of slaughtered hogs in the U.S. decreased by 3.7% to 62.38 million heads. Average hog price in China was 14.5 CNY per kilo, a drop of 43%. In the U.S., average hog price was $1.62 per kilo, up 2.5%. In Europe, average hog price was 1.3 EUR per kilo, up 11.3%. Compared to the same period last year, hog prices. There's sufficient supply in China, leading to a fall in the prices while there were shortages in the U.S. and Europe, driving up the price level. For our China operations, operating profit $537 million, up 2.5%. Packaged meats $496 million, up 21.6%. Pork $36 million.
Because of imported pork declining in international trade, there was a drop of 47.1%. Looking back at the first half of the year and the situation in China, we took various measures to mitigate the impact of epidemics, actively participate in the market competition, maintain stable production and sales volume, and achieve a steady earnings recovery. Packaged meats business continued to optimize product mix and control costs. We professionally expanded into new categories. Profitability hit a record high. Especially Chinese products and convenience products, they grew rapidly. Fresh pork business gradually returned to normal operations. Profits of pork segment decreased due to decline in contribution from imported meat. We promoted meat industrialization and diversification. Scale of poultry business grew rapidly as new projects commenced production. Pork production construction projects gradually reached completion.
In the U.S., we achieved $619 million, up 95.3%. Packaged meats $539 million, up 50%. Pork $102 million compared to a loss of $17 million last year, we improved by $119 million. We leveraged our vertically integrated business model, actively adjusted product mix and controlled costs to absorb inflationary pressure, resulting in revenue growth and significant improvement in profits. We continuously promoted process optimization to increase operational efficiency, save cost, and ease the impact of labor shortage. Profits of packaged meats segment increased significantly, reaching a record high. Operating results improved remarkably on the back of continued optimization of product mix and path to market. In Europe, operating profit $55 million, a fall of 30%. Packaged meats $46 million, a drop of 8%.
Pork, a loss of $14 million, a drop of $40 million. In Europe, the revenue achieved growth, but profits declined sharply due to energy shortage caused by the Russo-Ukrainian War, high commodity prices, rising input costs, and continued impact of ASF. We proactively adjusted our business strategy, implemented cost control and efficiency improvement measures to overcome operational difficulties. Q2 results improved significantly. Going back to the normal track. Sales volume of packaged meat grew steadily, but segment profit declined. Sales volume of pork declined and the segment incurred a loss. Poultry business achieved significant growth in both volume and profit. Our business strategy. We will continue to consolidate our global resources, accelerate industrialization, scaling, and diversification, improve level of industrial intelligence, automation and information technology, enhance our comprehensive strength, maintain our leading position in the industry, ensure sustainable development. That is the end of my report.
Thank you very much.
Robert Cox，Yuan-Yuan 先生，您请提问. [Foreign language]
谢谢 Robert。谢谢郭总和管理层，也恭喜公司在这个季度取得了非常优越的成绩。我这边先想请教两个问题，一个的话是关于双汇，我们知道就是双汇从今年开始也对预制菜部门加强了投入，能不能请管理层介绍一下我们现在整个这个预制菜的策略，那今年的整个的体量，还有整个预制菜未来的规模的目标是怎么样子的？这是第一个问题。那第二个问题的话，想请教一下美国这边的肉制品板块，我们看到肉制品板块随着这个猪价，它有一定的周期性，但是肉制品的吨利的话，从过去可能五年前的$400多，上升到了现在$500以上。那未来三到五年的话，我们在肉制品这边的吨利方面，有没有一些可以继续提升的空间，我们预期的话，长期来看的话，这个吨利有机会到一个什么样的水平？这两个问题，谢谢. [Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Guo and the management. First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the very outstanding results for the first half of the year. Basically, I have two questions. The first one concerns Shuanghui. I understand that there is more investment going into ready-to-eat products. I would like to ask about your overall strategy and the way forward for this type of products. The second question is about per ton profit level. I understand that it has been growing, and it has reached this range of $400-$500 per ton. What will happen in the next three- five years ? Do you believe that there is still room for the profit per ton level to continue to rise? What do you think will be the ultimate level that you can reach?
Thank you for your question. Actually, concerning these ready-to-eat meals, it is a new trend in mainland China, and various enterprises are making their plans and preparations to follow this trend. Shuanghui has done some research work. We have looked into different types of products and relevant technologies. Actually, we feel very positively about future development of this industry and believe that it is an important direction for the overall structure of our future business. We've actually set up a new business unit in July, and we have a dedicated team to look into the development of this trend, and they have looked into more than 30 types of products already, including some very popular dishes such as beef dishes and pork dishes with traditional Chinese sauces.
We will follow this trend by working on eight major series, and they will fit into different taste preferences of Chinese people in different regions in China. I think that we are going to offer something very diversified into the market in the near future. While we are setting the groundwork, we are focusing on the central portion of China and also northern China. We will do some trial for people to gradually adapt to this new trend, and then we will move toward to every corner of the entire nation. Concerning the new plant we are planning to set up in the third quarter, we have already received a lot of support from the local government, and we believe all the operations will be commissioned according to our plan.
We will also have dedicated machineries for this line of business. In the future, we are going to establish our capability covering all 18 provinces. At the moment, there are many companies trying to move into this area as well. Because we have accumulated a lot of experience in relation to processing meat, and also we have this long-standing brand, we have very good logistical support and also advantages in relation to execution and quality management. I believe our plan is to become the industry leader for this type of product.
Mark,
Yes. My question was in relation to the US market. I want to know about the projection for the medium to longer term for per ton profit level for packaged meats business. What kind of strategies do you have?
Shane and or Glenn, can you take this question please?
Yeah, Robert, this is Shane, and I have Glenn here with me. For the medium and long term, we'll first let's start with the first half results. We've seen incredible first half results in our packaged meats business. We expect to see that as we move through this year, lessen slightly, but still be in a very high range. As we move forward, there's a few things to factor in. First is, you know, food service is really coming back. We're back to probably about 86%-87% of 2019 or pre-COVID levels. Second, the labor impact that we've had over these past couple of years is returning to normal. We're beginning to see our ability to manufacture back at the level we expect to be at.
Pricing discipline, I would tell you, has been number three. We've really focused on staying ahead of or even with inflationary pressure. We'll expect to see that continue. Fourth, we've had a real focus on cost control and process improvement. We've seen the impact of both of those, which should carry us forward in both the medium and the long term. I would tell you the outlook for our packaged meats business, again, over the medium and long term is very promising. It looks very good. Glenn, you wanna add anything there?
No, Shane answered that well. I do think the results we have experienced over the last six months or even 12 months, trailing 12 months have been extremely strong and I would say sort of unusually strong. I think we need to be cautious going forward that margins above $700 a metric ton is probably unlikely. The way we forecast out and look at our business in the mid to long term is we'd like to return to our historical norms, but from a growth perspective. If we went into the pandemic at 580 or so a metric ton, we'd like to see us to come back to 600+ a metric ton going forward.
Again, that depends on seasonality, inflationary inputs, pressures on packaging, on meat, et cetera. Overall, Shane is spot on. We are very bullish with respect to our packaged meats business going forward. We think they've done all the right things from a product mix, a go-to-market strategy, and a customer focus on price investment, as well. We are bullish.
另外，我们投，之前六到十二个月的表现，都是非常的强嘛。但是我们往前看，还是要小心谨慎一点，大概要到那个每公吨超过$700这个水平，大概是不太可能发生了。所以我的感觉就是中期到长期而言，可以返回历史那个正常的水平，已经是挺不错的，我们希望就是可以超过每吨$600这个水平吧。整体而言，我们是非常有信心，非常看好的，我们各方面的战略也会好好地配合.[Foreign language]
好了，接下来我们下一个问题是来自于摩根斯坦利的分析师娄超。娄超，您请开始提问。娄超，您请。[Foreign language]
Robert，听得到我说话吗？[Foreign language]
听得到，非常清楚。[Foreign language]
不好意思。好，我也有两个问题，一个是关于中国业务，是想请教一下，就是我们看到在二季度咱们这个生鲜肉的销量，就同比下降得还是比较快。当然也理解，因为猪价这个快速上升，还有呢，包括一些疫情的扰动，想理解一下下半年我们怎么规划这个销量，不光是肉，就是不光是生鲜，还有这个肉制品，下半年我们这个量怎么看？另外呢，我看中报上面，有一个解释也是，说这个肉制品，咱们六月底的这个库存量，同比有所上升，是因为公司对三季度的整个的经营销售有一些预判，所以呢，合理地提升了库存。所以想看一下，管理层对下半年这个需求，以及我们整个利润率的水平，是怎么样的一个预判？谢谢。这是第一个问题。要不然我待会儿再问第二个问题吧，关于美国的。[Foreign language]
Thank you very much. I have two questions. The first question is about China operations. I see that in the second quarter, the sales volume for fresh pork dropped rather quickly. I do understand that it is pretty much driven by the higher price level and also because of the pandemic. What is your plan for your sales volume in the second half? I'm asking about both fresh pork and packaged meats business. I also saw from some reports saying that the inventory level for packaged meats towards the end of June has gone up quite substantially because you do have some sort of expectation for the third quarter. What do you think will be the overall demand level for the second half of the year? And what about the profit level?
好，我来回答第一个问题，关于中国双汇这个生鲜品和肉制品的规模问题。上半年生鲜品这一块报表显示是略有下降，产量、销量主要是国产肉是全重价到日期是大幅上升的，由于这个中美价差的缩窄，进口肉的量大幅下降，这俩之后是基本上是保温的，是这样一个概念。下半年这个生鲜品呢，还会保持一个个位数的增长，全年也是增长的，这没有问题。肉制品上半年是下降的，一季度就都有个小幅的下降。根据现在市场的恢复情况来看，下半年会有一个比较明显的增长，横杆掉上半年的下降。全年肉制品是一个小幅增长的概念。[Foreign language]
Thank you very much for your question. Allow me to take your question in relation to fresh pork and also packaged meats business. In the first half of the year, in relation to fresh pork, some reports have shown that there has been some slight decreases in relation to the sales volume. Actually, the sales volume for domestically produced pork has gone up very substantially, but because of the narrowing of the price spread between China and the U.S., that led to a fall in terms of imported volume of pork.
As for the second half of the year, we believe that there will be continuously some sort of a single-digit growth for the fresh pork. For the whole year, there will also be a positive growth. As for packaged meats business in the second half, we expect some growth in terms of the sales volume, which will offset to a certain extent the falling trend that we witnessed in the first half of the year. If we consider the entire year packaged meats business should enjoy a mild growth.
另外还有一个，刚才你提到一个工厂库存的问题，这个库存变化很小，属于一个正常的范围。因为我们每天呢，产量、发货量和客户的结转量，路上到货的原因，结转量它不是完全同步的，它造成了局部的是误差性的库存变化，一两千吨的变化，我们一个月十多万吨，它是很小一个变化，属于正常现象。[Foreign language]
As for the second part of your question, which is in relation to the inventory level. Actually it is a very small fluctuation which totally falls into the normal range. Every time we are talking about different volume in relation to delivery and also settlement amount. It is totally normal to see certain changes or fluctuations.
My second question is on the U.S., is on the upstream business. Understand if we look at the markets, the future and the spot market trend, correct me if I'm wrong, I suppose in the second quarter, the fresh pork, I'm talking about the slaughtering business, should be loss-making in the U.S., and hog production should turn profitable. Is it the right direction for the second quarter? And what kind of trend in the third quarter? Because I think in the third quarter, again, from the market price, it indicate continuous improvement in the hog production return. So can we have some idea about the direction for the third quarter and also overall for the second half?
I understand that hog production maybe turn negative profit again in the fourth quarter because of the seasonality. Trying to understand the trends better for the upstream. Thank you.
Glenn, go ahead, please.
Yeah. This is Glenn Nunziata. Thank you. So you're spot on in your question with respect to the Q2 results. You're right. We are seeing. We're sort of back to normal seasonal trends in our farm production or hog production business here in North America, where you typically see losses or raising costs exceeding market prices in Q1 and Q4, and pretty decent profitability in Q2 and Q3. I would tell you, we're not satisfied with that result overall. We for the year, the futures curves would indicate that hog production will have a difficult time even breaking even, this year.
It's just been an incredible headwind with respect to inflationary cost inputs, inflationary pressure on cost inputs like feed, labor, transportation, moving feed around and hogs around the country. It's just all of those have been just an incredible headwind for that business. Despite that, historically, we are still performing well compared to historical results. We do see that you're spot on that Q3 will, the curves indicate that we'll be profitable in Q4. As we look out ahead, it looks like there may be some losses on the farms. The opposite is true for fresh pork. You hit that one too. Fresh pork in Q2 had a lot of pressure. The USDA data would indicate that the summer months have been very difficult for fresh pork.
At the end of the day, the driving factor there is just the heightened hog prices. It's just difficult to maintain a spread between meat and hog prices that yield profitability when the hog prices are at such historical highs. We are performing well in our fresh pork business. We are for all the metrics that we do measure here internally, we're proud of what the team's been able to do. They're going out and working on the right mix in product and making sure that, given the labor we do have on hand and some of the shortfalls we've experienced, we're deploying that labor in the right part of our plants that yield the best returns. As a result, Smithfield has performed very well against USDA benchmarks with respect to fresh pork spreads.
All that said, the market is just too much for us to bear. In Q2, we generate a small loss in our fresh pork business. That will probably continue through the summer. In the back quarter, back four months or so, we do expect to see a return to profitability. All in our North American pork business will be profitable this year. It's got some opportunities. We'll continue to focus on everything we've said in the past on our farms and our fresh pork plants. We're a vertically integrated business. We've said to you before, I can't tell you exactly where the profit's gonna come from. We focus on our total vertically integrated model.
In this case, a lot of that profitability has resulted in the packaged meat segment. We're proud of that result in general.
Okay. Thanks, Glenn.
其实你刚才也点出了，我们有一些正常的季节性的影响。通常呢，我们看到在第一、第四季度呢，会有亏损的，这个呢，就是养殖这一方面的。然后呢，第二、第三季度呢，就会有一个利润。但是虽然这一些正常都会有这样的趋势，但并不代表我们会满意这样的结果。所以呢，我们知道这个养殖方面我们要可以满足我们基本上没有一个很大的亏损，但是呢，我们希望可以做得更加好。最近这一段的时间呢，我们经历了好多的挑战，包括很厉害的通胀啊，影响了各方面，原材料的成本，也导致这个饲料的价格增加，劳工的成本也增加，运输的成本也增加了。但是呢，虽然我们面对那么多的挑战，整体的表现还是及格的。第三个季度呢，我们相信会有一个盈利，但是到了第四季度呢，又返回一个小的亏损的一个趋势。至于那个生鲜肉这一方面呢，我们在第二季度承受比较大的压力。通常呢，夏季都是比较艰难的一个季度吧。主要背后的原因呢，就是这个猪价的波动啊，同时要保持那个价差是非常困难的，但是我们的团队还是非常的努力，他们不断调整这一些产品，我们希望可以找到最好的产品的组合。同时呢，我们也不断调整我们劳工的安排，让我们整体的业绩可以做到最好。现在这一个市场的情况呢，的确非常艰巨啊，所以呢，第二季度我们看到有一个小的亏损，但是呢，我们相信在未来的一个季度，我们就可以返回，有一个利润的情况。同时呢，展望未来呢，我们也会持续把我们的精神集中放在我们的养殖场上面，还有我们的工厂。同时呢，虽然我不可以很准确地告诉你这一个利润会来自哪一个环节，但是总的来说，我们都会好好地依靠这个垂直整合的营商的模式做到最好。谢谢。[Foreign language]
好了，下面我们接着提问。下一个问题是来自于华兴资本的Charlie Chen。Charlie，您可以开始提问。[Foreign language]
好的，谢谢王立成给我这个提问的机会。我这边有两个问题，第一个问题呢，就是关于中国的猪肉和生猪价格的问题。我们看到其实同比是确实很低，但是过去这两个月，其实整个猪肉市场价格上升得比较快。但是前两天政府也出面说，就是下半年猪肉大幅涨价的可能性不大。所以我想请问一下，就是公司对于中国下半年猪肉的价格走势是怎么去判断，特别是分季度的话，三四季度表现大概是什么样？这是第一个问题。第二个问题是技术性的问题，就是我看到公司其实一向现金流都很好，但是今年上半年，如果我们看它，就是不计算这个短期投资的这一块，就是净现金的话，现金其实是少了差不多五点九亿美金。特别是这个financing cash flow这一块，这个财务现金流这一块儿是有个负的四个多亿。我们就看见这个负债好像也没有说减少太多，然后应该分红也不会有那么多。所以我想就是可不可以给我们解释一下，这个现金流这方面为什么会有这么大的一个下降，然后未来公司的现金储备或者是现金的管理是什么样的一个态度？谢谢。[Foreign language]
Thank you very much for taking my questions. There are two questions. The first one is in relation to the rising hog prices in China. In the past two months, I've seen quite significant increase to the hog prices. So what do you think will happen in Q3 and Q4? We have heard from some reports saying that it is not likely to stay at a very high level in the second half. So what is your projection?
My second question is rather technical in nature. In the first half, I do not see much short-term investment, but I see that there is a drop of $590 million in the cash level. As for financing cash flow, there's a - $400-odd million figure. So can you explain to me why there is such a significant drop in the cash level for the company? And what is your future strategy or management method? And what is the expected cash reserve?
马总，您请。[Foreign language]
好，我回答第一个问题，关于这个生猪价格这个走势的预判。今年以来，这个从国内的猪价在四月份完成了本轮猪周期的筑底，然后进入一个漫长阶段，到六月份经历快速上涨，二季度末猪价超过二十块。根据目前我们对市场的了解，我们预计下半年的猪价，三季度和四季度在高位震荡，应该围绕二十元左右徘徊。刚才你讲到了这个国家，国家对这个下半年的猪价有个预测，说没有涨，上，继续上涨的空间。[Foreign language]
我们的预判和政府预判是一致的，我们也觉得下半年是高位震荡，但是不会有再高的增长。在四季度，尽管可能会进入猪肉消费的旺季，但是因为六月份开始猪价上涨，养殖也调整增加，去增加自己的出栏量，四季度依然会出现这个供应充足的现象。所以四季度猪价大概率在三季度基础上会向下走。谢谢。[Foreign language]
Thank you for your questions. Allow me to take the first question in relation to hog prices in China. Since the beginning of this year, we have seen a very low or falling trend of hog prices until April when it began to rise. Our projection for the second half of the year, which will include Q3 and Q4, will be that there would be some minor fluctuations along higher levels, and I think that will be around CNY 20. We have similar thinking when it comes to projections for the second half compared to what was announced by the state.
We do not believe there is much room for further surges, and we believe that the projection for hog production figures will be adjusted, and I believe there will be higher level of supply in the fourth quarter. Compared to the third quarter, the hog prices, it is more likely that it will be a downward adjustment trend.
第二个是现金流的问题，这个我来回答你的问题。今年呢，我们整体的现金流，经营现金流比去年呢我们下降了2.4个亿，这主要是因为中国双汇的现金流，和去年同期相比，这个没有太大的变化，都是正的现金流。变化呢，主要是美国Smithfield，美国Smithfield呢，由去年同期的正的$1.2亿美元，本年呢是负的$1.2亿美元，主要影响的是Smithfield。中国双汇的现金流是同比是增加的。[Foreign language]
Thank you for your second question in relation to cash flow. Actually, this year our operating cash flow showed a drop of $240 million. The major reason behind this drop does not come from Shuanghui, because the cash level for Shuanghui compared to last year is more or less the same. The major changes have come from Smithfield. Last year it was a positive figure of about $120 million. This year that has turned into a negative figure. That is the true impact on the drop in relation to our overall operating cash level.
Smithfield这个现金流同比减少的原因呢，主要是两个方面，第一个是存货占用的增加，第二个是这个往来款项占用的增加。这两个方面的原因呢，这个也有两个方面，第一个呢是我们库存量的增加，第二个也有我们今年呢这个通货膨胀造成我们库存成本的增加，也使我们的占用增加。[Foreign language]
In relation to the drop in the cash level for Smithfield, I believe it is twofold. First of all, there is a higher level of inventory, and the second reason is because of the flow of funds in the current accounts. When there is higher level of inventory due to the inflationary pressure, that means the cost behind the higher level of inventory will also go up.
那么下半年呢，随着我们产品的出库以及经营的提升，我想全年呢，我们会恢复到一个正常的现金流水平。另外一个呢，我们也会利用我们自身的强劲的现金流，来进一步地降低我们的债务。[Foreign language]
For the second half of the year, when we continue to sell our inventory, there will be less stock and we will continue to enhance the level of operation. The whole year performance is that we believe we will return back to normal cash level. We will also use our own strong cash flow to reduce the level of debt.
就这样，大家说。[Foreign language]
好，下面我们接着继续提问。下面一个问题是来自于Jefferies的分析师Charis Chen，Charis，您请开始。[Foreign language]
谢谢。那我也有两个问题。第一个问题是关于中国这一块，因为我们在年初的时候也跟大家讲过，对于中国肉制品全年这个目标呢，是维持在大概在¥4,000左右的单吨利润。那么因为考虑到下半年生猪价格方面呢有些增长，那我们现在是不是还会维持对下半年单吨肉制品的利润依然维持在¥4,000左右的这样一个判断呢？[Foreign language]
Thank you very much. I have two questions. The first question concerns China operations. At the beginning of the year, I understand that you have put forth a projection or target for packaged meats business. Profit level should reach per ton CNY 4,000. In the second half of the year, considering the fact that hog prices will continue to rise, are you maintaining the same projection, which is CNY 4,000 per ton profit?
这是中国的。马总，您请回答这个问题。[Foreign language]
那我先回答一下。这个中国肉制品这个吨利啊，我们年初也有展望，就是预期就是四千元左右。一季度多重利好因素叠加，吨利比较高，而二季度第一季度是低的，但属于我们正常的四千元左右这个波动范围，在三千九以上。下半年猪价会明显高于上半年，会带动这个原料成本的上升。但是由于这个上半年我们有较多的低成本原料的库存，会对冲掉大部分猪价上涨带来的成本上升，但它还有一定的负面影响，就不能完全对冲掉。预计它下半年的吨利会略低于上半年，全年预计仍然可以保持在四千元左右。谢谢。[Foreign language]
Thank you for your question concerning packaged meats business and the per ton profit level. At the beginning of the year, we did present our projection or our goal at CNY 4,000-odd per ton.
In the first quarter, we have seen accumulation of various encouraging factors. Our per ton profit level was driven up. In the second quarter, it was above CNY 3,900. As for the second half, because of the rising hog prices, that will also drive up the cost for our raw materials. Because in the first half, we have already put together very good factors supporting our business at low cost level. We have low -cost inventory, which will effectively offset part of the impact created by the rising hog prices. This is only a partial offset, not a complete offset. In the second half of the year, we will see a mild drop in terms of per ton profit level. For the whole year, we believe we can maintain the CNY 4,000 projection. Thank you.
谢谢。那我第二个问题的话呢，是关于欧洲业务的，因为在上半年我们也看到，非洲猪瘟对欧洲这一块生猪的这个供应呢产生一定影响，同时市场需求方面也受到俄乌战争的影响。那不知道现在来看的话，我们有看到欧洲市场在生猪供应方面，以及这个需求方面，有没有一些比较好的改善？谢谢。[Foreign language]
My second question is about your European operations. In the first half, of course, we understand that because of the African swine fever and also because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, many things got affected and the demand was also weakened. Do you think there will be any improvement in looking forward in relation to the supply and demand of hog or fresh pork?
Shane again.
This is Shane, and thank you for the question. We expect to see improvement in Europe in the back half of this year. You know, as you mentioned, as we continue to deal with African swine fever, as we continue to deal with avian influenza, the war, inflation, there's a number of factors that are impacting that business and had a big impact in the first half of the year. I expect that as we move through the second half and into 2023, we'll see somewhat of a return to normalcy in some of these markets over there.
However, I will caveat that with, you know, we are expecting to continue to see really high energy costs, both from the energy costs on the input side of the plant, in distribution and really all the areas of our business. The team there is focused on offsetting that, finding better ways to do things, if you will. From an overall standpoint, from a market-based standpoint, I expect to see a return to normalcy, I would say, as we move through the back half of this year, which would equate to improved profitability coming out of that business.
好，非常感谢你的问题。当然你刚才也非常准确地点出了我们头半年面对的问题，包括非洲猪瘟啊，禽流感啊，还有这个战争，好多方面外部的因素的确影响了我们在上半年的一些运作，还有表现。但是呢，我们期望来到下半年呢，整体可以返回正常。虽然我们还是面对非常高的这个能源的成本的，我们就要思考一些的方法，把它尽量地抵消。那么整体而言呢，我们相信大部分的操作都可以返回正常，同时慢慢这个利润的水平也会可以得到改善的。谢谢。[Foreign language]
各位分析师，我们现在还有继续提问的机会，请在 Zoom 的界面按举手键发问。[Foreign language]
下一个问题是来自于DBS的分析师Clement。您请，Clement您请开始。[Foreign language]
谢谢管理层。我有一个追加的问题，就是根据刚才管理层也提到的猪价预判的情况，那管理层是否可以给我们分享一下，就是说，如果我们现在看到整个猪肉价格上升到比较高的位置，那我们是否有在六七月份加大这个猪肉进口方面的业务呢？那如果是的话，其实我们目前在进口方面的利润水平怎么样？然后，如果按目前中美的这个猪价来看的话，咱们下半年中国进口业务的这个量的增长会怎么样？谢谢。[Foreign Language]
Thank you very much. I do have one follow-up question in relation to hog prices that were discussed earlier. Can you share some more details with us in relation to the fact that we have seen rather high hog prices? Does that mean that you will increase the level of importation for July and June and beyond? At the moment, what is the profit level involved for such imported products? What do you expect the hog trading volume will be between China and U.S.?
好，这个目前呢，中国的生猪价格是一个高位运行，在二十一到二十二块钱左右，人民币一公斤。而美国的生猪价格呢也比较高，目前美国的生猪价格呢，大约在两美元左右一公斤。所以说呢，这个从目前的价差上来看呢，加上我们中美，中国进口美国的猪肉啊，那个实施了较高的关税，所以说呢，现在从美国进口猪肉仍然没有优势。[Foreign language]
Thank you very much for your question. The hog prices in China at the moment is rather high, standing at CNY 21-22 per kilo. The level in the United States is also quite high, standing at about $2 per kilo. If you consider the price spread, you would understand that there is really no advantage when we import U.S. pork into China, because there is a high level of tariff involved.
现在呢，我们主要啊，我们中美两国的管理层啊，主要是致力于我们猪肉的内脏和副产品往中国的出口。这个呢，我们双方啊，经过这个努力啊，积极的协调，密切的配合，我们这个副产品的往中国的出口量啊，在不断的加大，这个呢，也给我们的贸易量和盈利啊，会带来一些积极的影响，积极的贡献。[Foreign language]
At the moment, our management teams both in China and also in the United States will focus on exportation of byproducts to China from the United States. With higher level of volume of such byproducts to be exported to China. We will drive up the overall trading volume and we hope to achieve some positive contribution.
好，谢谢。[Foreign language]
Thank you.
各位分析师请继续提问。在入幕界面按举手键，可以进行发问。下面一个问题是来自于高盛的分析师Brian DAI。Brian，您可以开始。[Foreign language]
各位管理层好。我有一个关于美国这边的问题，我还不会用英文问。[Foreign language] Dear management team, if we in the expectation of gradual decline of hog price in the US, based on the futures curve, how do you expect the combined profit for the hog business and pork business in the second half? Thank you.
我有一个问题，就是关于美国那一边的，所以我就直接用英文来提出我的问题。就是刚才你们说到，相信美国那个猪价会逐步地下滑了，那你们相信在第二个下半年整体来说，合并的这个利润的情况是怎么样？[Foreign language]
Shane, go on.
Sure, Robert, I got this. Shane may add a comment at the end. As I mentioned earlier, the seasonal patterns of our North American pork business are sort of going back to normal patterns that we saw before the pandemic. Shane mentioned a couple of important external factors that are contributing to that. One is the food service recovery, second is labor. Although we're not exactly where we need to be from a labor perspective, we have seen continued improvement over the last few months that are gonna allow our supply and manufacturing footprint to return closer to historical norms. All that said,
Just like we saw in Q2, we're gonna see a lot of pressure on fresh pork margins in Q3. We're gonna see some profitability on the farm in Q3. That will then reverse into Q4. We'll see some strong profitability out of fresh pork. As the futures curves indicate today, again, that's very volatile and subject to lots of change. We're gonna see some losses on the farm, but on the back half, the net effect of all that will be a profitable North American pork segment in the back half of the year.
好，非常感谢你的问题啊。刚才我们已经做了一些的讨论，就是说到那一些季节性的趋势呢，慢慢已经恢复到疫情之前比较正常的一些水平了。刚才我们也说到有一些外部的因素影响我们的。同时呢，我们看到好多东西慢慢恢复过来，包括那一些啊餐饮业的啊操作啊，还有劳工的短缺已经不断地改善过来。同时呢，我们因为有足够的劳工，我们生产呢就也可以慢慢恢复到之前正常的水平了。总的来说呢，我们第三个季度呢是会有一个利润的。但是呢，到了第四季度，因为一些猪价的比较波幅吧，可能就不是很准确的可以告诉你肯定会有一个利润。但是总的来说呢，下半年还是有利润的。谢谢。[Foreign language]
I would add.
Thank you very much.
This is Shane. I'd like to add just one thing, and Glenn touched on this earlier. You know, our North American strategy really is about our vertically integrated model. We look at just each component of our business, we step back and look at it more holistically. If we see movements in profitability between fresh and hogs and packaged meats, you know, at the end of the day, our strategy is to capture that profit in our model somewhere in our business. We're constantly evaluating where that profit lies, forecasting where that profit would be, and then adjusting to make sure we keep that profit inside of our company. That's how we're kind of approaching our model and our what I would say is our North American strategy.
好了，我想补充一点，就是刚才其实也说得非常好了，但是我们北美洲整体的战略就是要依靠垂直整合的这个营商的模式。同时，我们会每一天盯准不同板块里面有怎么样的走势，可能今天那个生鲜肉走势是比较好的，或是明天那个肉制品表现比较好，我们马上就会进行一个评估，看看我们的利润从哪儿来，然后不断地进行那个调整，确保我们可以把这个利润做到最好。谢谢。[Foreign language]
Brian，您这边还有没有其他的问题？[Foreign language]
其他没有了，非常感谢。[Foreign language]
好，我们现在还有一次提问的机会，各位分析师请按照Zoom的界面按举手键进行发问。没有。结束。好的，那如果没有问题的话，那我们今天的会议就到此结束。谢谢各位参与，我们下次再见。[ Foreign language] Shane、Glenn，the meeting is concluded. Thank you for your participation. Bye bye.
Thank you, Rob.
Bye bye.