São Paulo – Brazilian beef company Minerva reported last Thursday (21) that one of its slaughterhouses was certified to export to Saudi Arabia. The unit is in Colombia and is part of the company Athena Foods. According to Minerva, Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top halal meat consumers with approximately 34 million residents.
Based on figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the company reported that Colombia has a herd of 24 million head of cattle and a huge potential for growth in the industry. “To be reflected by the new authorization issued by Saudi Arabian government,” reported Minerva. The company, which is South America’s leading beef exporter, has capital from the Saudi fund SALIC.
Earlier this month, Minerva released its year-to-date results, which showed that exports accounted for 54% of its gross revenue. The Middle East was responsible for 22% of the revenue from exports of Brasil da Minerva division (pictured above) and 6% from exports of Athena Foods, a division that includes the company’s operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Taking together all its operations, 13% of the company’s exports revenue came from the Middle East. The top destination was Asia at 36%, followed by the Americas at 15%, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at 14%, then the Middle East, followed by the European Union at 11%, then Africa at 8%, and North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries at 3%.
Minerva saw an exports revenue of USD 11.5 billion year-to-date through September this year, up 14.4% from a year ago. The company’s gross revenue stood at USD 18 billion during the period. The company slaughtered 1,740 head of cattle in Brazil and 1,775 by Athena Foods.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
