Meat giant JBS is setting up production in Oman, adding another source of manufacturing in the Middle East.
The Brazil-based company is setting up a joint venture with Oman Food Capital (OFC), the agri-food investment arm of the country’s Oman Investment Authority.
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JBS already has three facilities in the Middle East – two in Saudi Arabia and one in the United Arab Emirates.
The new venture “consolidates two production assets” in Oman, JBS said in a statement. It will own businesses operated in Oman by local entities A’Namaa Poultry Co. and Al Bashayer Meat Company. OFC is the largest single shareholder in Al Bashayer.
JBS will invest $150m in equity in the venture, in which it will own an 80% stake. OFC will hold the remaining 20%.
The investment will be directed primarily toward completing A’Namaa’s poultry plant, which is located in the Ibri region of northern Oman, approximately 380km west of Muscat, the country’s capital. It will also take in Al Bashayer’s beef and lamb processing facility in Thumrait, in southern Oman.
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By GlobalDataJBS said the venture will aim to “ensure food security for the population” in Oman as part of the country’s Vision 2040 programme, devised to diversify the country’s economy.
The Seara brand owner said the venture will also “position the country as a centre for the production of halal products suitable for export to various markets”.
JBS estimates the venture will reach a static industrial production capacity of around 300,000 tonnes a year.
It would correspond to a daily processing capacity of about 1,000 head of cattle, 5,000 lambs and 600,000 chickens.
Production at the beef and lamb facility is expected to begin within six months. The poultry site is scheduled to start operations within a year.
In an investor presentation published in November, JBS said Africa and the Middle East combined accounted for 3% of its net revenue by consumption.
