São Paulo – The Marfrig group is going to maintain its exports to Middle Eastern countries from Brazil, even though it has become the owner of production units in the region. In October, the meat packing company purchased Keystone Foods, a multinational company with units in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Brazilian foreign sales to the region, however, will be maintained, because the country exports raw poultry to the Middle East, whereas the units in Arab countries operate with industrialized products.
"The purchase of Keystone Foods does not interfere with or alter our current system of exports from Brazil to the Middle East. In the future, however, the company hopes that Keystone Foods’ distribution system in the region may contribute to optimize our sales to the Middle East even further," said to ANBA by Alex Simões Toledo, the Communication and Institutional Marketing manager at Marfrig.
This Wednesday (17th), the company announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2010. During the period, the group’s gross revenues increased by 64% compared with the same period of last year, having reached 4.2 billion reals (US$ 2.4 billion). Net revenues reached 3.8 billion reals (US$ 2.2 billion), representing growth of 60.5% compared with the third quarter of 2009. The results were announced during a videoconference for market analysts.
Exports made by the company’s beef division and those made under the Seara brand, as well as the growth of domestic sales, have driven the group’s growth. Foreign sales reached 1.626 billion reals (US$ 940,000).
The Middle East has remained the second main target for the company’s exports, having accounted for 21.1% of Marfrig’s foreign sales in the third quarter of 2010. "Shipments to Europe have shown significant growth, and the same holds true of the Middle East and Asia," stated Ricardo Florence, Marfrig’s Planning and Investor Relations director, at the event. During the same period of 2009, Arab countries accounted for 18.2% of the company’s foreign sales.
Europe, the group’s leading importing region, accounted for 45% of sales from July to September this year. Florence also highlighted the group’s foreign sales in relation to total Brazilian exports of beef. "We have had a record breaking share of 19% in exports."
The company ended the quarter with losses of 30.9 million reals (US$ 17.8 million) due to increased financial expenditures, including operations for the purchase of Keystone Foods. The multinational corporation’s profit will only be included in Marfrig’s financial statements starting on the fourth quarter this year. The Marfrig group owns 151 industrial units in 23 different countries and employs 90,000 people.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
