Moy Park bought out by Brazilian meat giants JBS
Global meat-packing giant JBS is eyeing the EU market and dipping its toe in, despite opposition from the IFA.
Print29 June 2015
One of the biggest players in the South American beef industry, JBS, is attempting to gain a foothold in the EU, and made a big step towards that goal with the recent acquisition of Craigavon-based poulty producer Moy Park. The company hopes that the €1.32bn purchase will allow it to increase sales of its products in to the EU.
JBS director of investor relations Jerry O’Callaghan – originally from Schull, Co. Cork – says that Moy Park’s existing relationship with the ten largest retailers in the UK is an opportunity for his company to expand furhter in to Europe, the Irish Examiner reports.
JBS’s expansion, the latest in a “global spending spree” that has seen it make investments in the USA, Canada and Australia, will be of concern to the IFA, which believes that any trade agreement between the EU and South America would cripple the beef sector in this part of the world. O’Callaghan is bullish about that opposition, calling the assocation’s tactics as “underhand” and backs a plan to take the issue up with the World Trade Organisation.
“We have a pretty global view of things,” he says, “and I think Brazil has been dealt a really bad hand in terms of how it has been perceived globally. The price of prime cuts in Europe are disproportionately expensive in relation to per-capita income…is that fair? I think the European consumer is getting a raw deal.”
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