4. Shuanghui
Overall position: 23
Category: Food and dairy
Brand value: US$2.68bn
A mainstay of the American headlines over recent months following its controversial purchase of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor in the US, Shuanghui (also known as Shineway) is the top non-dairy food company on this list.
The Smithfield sale, which closed in September and was worth US$4.7bn, is the largest Chinese takeover of a US company. Combined, the companies produce US$20bn in annual revenue, with Shuanghui accounting for sales of worth US$6.2bn.
Much of Smithfield’s confidence came on the back of a Chinese pork industry crisis earlier in the year, when more than 10,000 dead pigs were discovered dumped in Shanghai’s Huangpu River. As a result, the incident, which linked to small-scale farmers, drove consumers to large-scale suppliers like Shuanghui.