Meat Giant JBS Set to Devour Leading Pork Producer, Smithfield

by Kristen Ridley · 2010-07-01 11:30:00 UTC
Topics:

Supermarket meatBig Meat is about to get even bigger. The nation's largest pork producer, Smithfield, has been struggling financially lately, but its stock enjoyed a boost Tuesday after the Brazilian paper, Valor Economico, announced a possible buyout by the Brazil-based meat giant, JBS. These two companies, along with Tyson and Cargill, make up the four largest meat companies in the U.S. Together, they control 40 percent of our chicken, 34 percent of our turkey, 66 percent of our pork, and 76 percent of our beef. It looks like soon just three companies will be left standing on top of this meat mountain.

JBS has been buying up competitors left and right over the past couple of years. The company already acquired Smithfield's beef division in 2008 after taking over former American beef giant Swift & Co. the year prior. Less than a year has passed since JBS gained control of Texas-based poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride. The meat owner's also bought out its former beef competitor in Brazil, Bertin. Market analysts say that JBS's strategy seems to be not to boost production, but to continue expanding its influence in the global marketplace.

If this buyout goes through, JBS will control 28 percent of American beef, 18 percent of our chicken, 20 percent of our turkey, and a whopping 36 percent of all our pork. It will have unprecedented control over our entire meat market.

The timing on this buyout bid seems a bit strange. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is in the middle of conducting a series of hearings on consolidation and anticompetitive behavior in the agricultural industry. One would think that the DOJ would be disinclined to approve such a huge merger, especially in light of JBS's recent acquisitions. Whether this merger is allowed or not by antitrust regulators will be telling. I hope we can just chalk this up to JBS's hubris and not as a sign that the DOJ's tough talk is just talk.

Photo credit: Sono Tamaki via Flickr

Kristen Ridley is an artist, foodie, and aspiring grass farmer who earned her Bachelor's Degree at the University of Southern California.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Perennial Grains: Miracle Crop of the Future
NEXT STORY:
Join the Social Media Day of Action to Rid Girl Scout Cookies of Forest-Destroying Palm Oil

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.