JBS plans stunning takeover of U.S. beef industry

Brazilian beef company JBS S.A., which acquired Swift & Co. last year and suddenly became the third-largest beef processor in the U.S., stunned the U.S. beef industry last night and today with announcements that it has reached agreements to acquire National Beef Packing Co. and the beef processing and cattle feeding operations of Smithfield Foods Inc.

The acquisitions would make JBS by far the largest beef processor in the U.S. with a combined National/Smithfield/Swift capacity of 42,500 head per day.

This would exceed the capacity of Cargill Inc., which can handle 29,000 head per day, and Tyson Foods Inc., which can handle 28,300 head per day. Globally, JBS, which already is the largest beef processor in the world, would run 80,000 head per day at plants in Brazil, Argentina, the U.S., Australia and Italy.

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