Wednesday, March 5, 2008
JBS-Swift preps to buy Nos. 4 and 5 in beef packing industry
by Bill Jackson
BS-S.A., the parent company of JBS-Swift of Greeley, has shocked the beef industry not only in the United States but worldwide with a purchase that will be officially announced today.
"Wow," was the reaction of Dick Monfort when told of the deal which involves three U.S. companies and one in Australia that JBS is buying for $1.7 billion. In July of last year, JBS bought the former Swift & Co. for almost $1.5 billion.
JBS-S.A. of San Paulo, Brazil, will announce its intentions to buy National Beef Co. of Kansas City, the Smithfield Beef Group and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding, which is a joint venture of Smithfield Foods and ContiGroup and headquartered at Centerra in Loveland. In addition, JBS is buying the Tasman Group, the largest multi-species meat processor in Australia.
The National Beef purchase was announced by that company late Tuesday; Steve Kay, publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly in California, confirmed the other purchases with several of his sources. ...
"It's unbelievable. How did they bundle all that together?" Monfort said. And he, like Kay, wondered what the reaction of the U.S. Justice Department would have to the announcement, which means JBS will have the capacity to slaughter 42,500 head of cattle per day in the U.S. That's far ahead of the next two largest, Cargill Meat Solutions at 29,000 head per day and Tyson Foods at 28,300 per day.
In addition, with the purchase of Five Rivers, JBS will become the largest cattle feeder in the world. That company has 10 feedlots in Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas with a one-time capacity of 811,000 head of cattle.
-- Tribune reporter Sharon Dunn contributed to this story.
Now, let us pair that with a story that came in today.
Brazilian Cattle Ranchers Destroying Indians Habitat in Paraguay
Written by Newsroom
Sunday, 16 November 2008
In the Paraguayan side of the border between Brazil and Paraguay, the last uncontacted Indians in South America outside the Amazon basin have been spotted, apparently fleeing the rapid destruction of their jungle home. The Indians are members of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe, who live in the dense forests of western Paraguay.