Smithfield plans beef processing plant in Oklahoma

Thursday, October 19th 2006, 9:49 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ One of the nation's largest beef processors is announcing a joint agreement with a New York-based agriculture company to build a $200 million beef processing facility in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The facility is expected to bring more than 2500 jobs to the region.

Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Smithfield Beef Group and New York-based ContiGroup, a holding company for meat producers, reached an agreement in principle for a joint venture to build the 650,000-square-foot plant in Hooker, about 20 miles northeast of Guymon in Texas County.

Construction is expected to begin in January, with a targeted completion date in mid-2008. The plant is expected to process five-thousand cattle per day at full capacity.

Smithfield, Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor, owns the John Morrell meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls.