Brazilian meat giant JBS earned USD 1.31 billion in the final quarter of 2021, on the back of sales to China, the destination of more than a quarter of the company’s overall exports last year.
“The highlight remains China, which increased its share month after month, and has already become the third largest destination for American exports of this protein”, said JBS, which has large exporting facilities in the U.S..
In 2021, net revenue reached a record of 350.7 billion reais (USD 72 billion), the company said citing a good performance of its U.S. beef and pork businesses and resilience of its poultry operations there.
Brazil-China Beef Trade Pending Chinese Technical Assessment
In the fourth quarter, JBS recorded consolidated net revenue of 97.2 billion reais (USD 20 billion), a 27.8% rise compared with the same period a year ago, with growth across all business units. Asia’s demand for U.S. beef remained strong last year, JBS said.
In its home market, division JBS Brasil had revenue growth of 5.1% from the same year-ago quarter, despite a 3% fall in cattle processed due to a shortage of animals for slaughtering, and the temporary suspension of Brazilian beef exports to China between early September and mid-December.
The company also posted adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a measure of operating income known as EBITDA, at 13.15 billion reais (USD 3 billion) in the period.
