Global red meat processor JBS plans to invest around R$150 million to double the production capacity of its plant near Campo Grande, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul region.

The move comes as Brazil’s export capacity surges this year.

The company said the expansion, generating 2300 new jobs, would make the plant the largest beef facility in all of Latin America and one of the top three for JBS worldwide.

The expanded facility will process 4400 animals daily, while the number of employees will increase from 2300 to 4600.

Australia’s largest beef plant, JBS’s Dinmore facility near Brisbane, has double shift capacity to kill 3400 head per day, but labour constraints mean that number has not been approached since well before COVID.

China access growth for Brazil

The announcement came during an event marking the first shipment of beef from the JBS factory to China. JBS’s Campo Grande II unit was one of the 38 approved by the Chinese government on 12 March.

“These 38 plant approvals for China represent a gigantic step for Brazilian agribusiness,” JBS global chief executive CEO Gilberto Tomazoni said.

“They mean growth, job creation, and income. For industry, for the countryside, for people, for commerce, for cities,” he said.

New authorizations

Prior to this recent approvals, Brazil had 106 plants authorised for export to China, now rising to 144. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the new facility will expand, previously had only three beef processing plants authorised, now growing to nine.

The state had the most new authorisations among all Brazilian states in last month’s announcement.

With the new export access approvals, beef production units in Mato Grosso do Sul can now ship an equivalent volume to 2.3 million animals annually, an increase of 1.87 million, JBS said in a statement.

Previously, the number of Brazilian exports to China reached the equivalent of a maximum of 467,000 head.

“Considering the processing share in the state, the potential for export to China has increased from 11.4pc of the region’s beef production to 57.1pc,” the company said.

The Campo Grande II facility was built in 2007 and acquired by JBS in 2010. It currently employs 2300 people and produces 440 tonnes of beef and 136 tonnes of burgers (or 2.4 million patties) every day.

In addition to China, the factory can export to the United States, Algeria, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, European Union, and Chile.

JBS employs 155,000 people throughout Brazil, of which 17,300 are in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which has 25 factories for beef, chicken, and pork.

Source: JBS SA