Tyson Foods enters Argentina beef joint venture http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=consumerProducts&storyid=nN12270953&from=business
Fri Jan 12, 2007
CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Top U.S. meat producer Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it has entered a joint venture in Argentina that will create that country's "first vertically integrated beef operation" and will be Tyson's first involvement in a beef operation outside of North America.
Tyson, U.S. cattle feeding company Cactus Feeders Inc., and Argentina agribusiness Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A (CRE.BA: Quote, Profile, Research) (CRESY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) formed the joint venture that is expected to have sales of $30 million to $35 million in 2007, Tyson said in a statement.
No financial details were disclosed, but Tyson said it owns slightly more than half of the venture.
The venture will operate a cattle feedlot and a recently purchased beef processing plant.
The feedlot, in Villa Mercedes in the San Luis province of Argentina, can hold 25,000 head at one time and will supply cattle to the beef plant at Santa Rosa. The venture expects to increase feedlot capacity in the region, the statement said.
The beef plant, previously operated under the name of Exportaciones Agroindustriales Argentina S.A., may be modified so that it can process up to 15,000 cattle per month from the current 9,500, Tyson said. The plant's production will gradually be converted to grain-fed beef from grass-fed to serve Asian and European markets. The venture will produce products for domestic and export markets.
"This is also an important first step for Tyson as we look to create a presence in South America," Rick Greubel, Tyson's group vice president of international, said in the statement.
Argentina is the fifth largest producer of beef and veal in the world, after the United States, Brazil, the European Union, and China, and is the No. 2 beef exporter in the world, the statement said.
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