By Patrick Thomas

Shares of bacon and ham seller Smithfield Foods tumbled about 8% after the company said surging diesel prices from the war in Iran are driving up its costs to truck hogs to processing plants and pork to grocery stores.

"The recent CPI data showed a meaningful move in energy, which certainly matters for us," Smithfield's packaged meats president Steve France said on an investor call. The Virginia company is trying to cut costs, improve productivity and raise prices-Smithfield said its average sales price rose 2.6% for the three months that ended March 29.

Despite rising costs, the company said consumers have continued to buy pork. Smithfield posted higher quarterly sales and a $246 million profit, better than Wall Street analysts expected. The stock is up more than 30% over the past 12 months.

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April 28, 2026 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)

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