MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World’s largest beef producer relocates operations to save on taxes

JBS plans to cut costs by 125 million dollars annually

The world's largest beef producer, Brazil's JBS, will shift its meat packing operations to other locations where it operates in the country, to reap tax savings, the company said on Tuesday.

The restructuring should enable JBS to raise output from its domestic operations by 5% through efficiency gains and enable the company to save around 200 million Real a year (125 million dollars) by reducing its tax bill and overheads.

The company said it would suspend operations at the Presidente Epitacio unit in Sao Paulo state due to tax inefficiencies there and shift that plant's output northwest to a unit in neighbouring Mato Grosso do Sul state.

Slaughtering and de-boning at some units in Parana, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Roraima states would be moved to other locations, in many cases to units in the same states. The proximity of some existing units was also behind the reconfiguration.

JBS said it did not expect to resume operations at units where it was halting work, in particular as long as the current tax regime that applied to them remained in place.