Brazilian meat packer Friboi, based in Goiás, has bought a new meat-packing plant in Argentina. Bankrupt Companhia Elaboradora de Produtos Alimentícios (Cepa), located in the Merlo district, Buenos Aires, was bought for $27 million at auction.
This is the fourth Argentinean meat-packing plant purchased by Friboi since September 2005 when it acquired the Swift mega-plant—the largest in the country—for $200 million. Swift produces 56% of all frozen cooked beef and 68% of all canned beef exported from Argentina and accounts for 30% of the meat trade in the country. The company also bought a Cepa factory through Swift in Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe, in October.
Friboi is not the only Brazilian meat-packing company operating in other Mercosur member-countries. Marfrig recently acquired Frigorífico Elbio Perez Rodriguez in Uruguay, its second acquisition in three months. It bought Uruguay-based Frigorífico Tacuarembó in September and also owns Argentine Breeders & Packers (AB&P). The company's combined slaughter capacity in Uruguay and Argentina is approximately 2,500 cattle per day. In Brazil it slaughters 11,000 head per day.
In August, Frigorífico Bertin paid $35 million for Frigorífico Canelones in Uruguay, which has a slaughter capacity of 1,000 head per day.
According to managing director of the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters (Abiec), Antônio Jorge Camardelli, "Brazilian meat-packers setting up business in Uruguay now have access to meat buying markets which are currently closed to Brazilian beef such as the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan and China." It also protects them against foreign currency exchange rate problems with the Brazilian real and avoids export bans such as those that were imposed on Brazilian product following certain outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.
