Shuanghui-Smithfield Deal: Water For Waste

The buyout of the world's biggest pork producer, US-based Smithfield Food, by its giant Chinese counterpart, Shuanghui International, was water for waste. Even if the merger hasn't been discussed as a massive water transfer, in essence it is, because the water requirements to raise livestock for meat production are enormous with pork one of the highest in the water department.