Brazilian beef company now Oz's largest lamb slaughterer

Monday, April 5, 2010

Australia's federal competition office has given JBS S.A. permission to acquire lamb processor Tatiara Meat Company. Tatiara bills itself as Australia's largest exporter of premium chilled lamb.

This makes JBS-owned Swift & Company the largest lamb processor in the country, killing close to 25,000 lambs a day. Tatiara processes and sells lambs to markets in Canada and the United States.

JBS took over Swift in 2007. At the time, Swift was the third largest processor of fresh beef in the United States, and the largest beef processor in Australia.

When JBS S.A., which is based in Sao Paulo, took over Smithfield Beef in 2008, it declared itself the world's largest beef producer and exporter with a daily capacity of 65,200 head of cattle. It is also the third largest pork producer in the United States, killing nearly 48,000 hogs a day. BF