Brazilian meat giant JBS’s Australian subsidiary Rivalea has invested A$20m ($13.7m) in one of its facilities.
Rivalea, acquired by JBS in January last year, is to upgrade its Corowa pork processing site in New South Wales to “improve and strengthen its operations and growth across fresh and value-added pork products supplied to Australian consumers and key export partners”.
The improvement work includes upgrading pig rearing sheds and improving biosecurity systems to reduce the risk of disease.
Apart from Corowa, Rivalea’s pork division includes facilities at Diamond Valley Pork in Melbourne and Seven Point Pork at Port Wakefield in South Australia.
JBS Australia COO for the pork division, Edison Alvares, said: “Through this A$20m investment programme we will seek to improve the productivity of our operations which will enhance job security for people in the Corowa community.”
Rivalea’s Corowa site employs more than 600 people and consists of five farms, a processing facility, feed milling, and research and administration.
The site utilises biogas technology capturing methane to generate 85% of the farming and processing operations’ peak power requirements and further uses the nutrients to grow crops, contributing to the sustainability of the site.
JBS Australia employs 15,000 people throughout Australia and New Zealand working across beef, lamb, pork and salmon processing and value-added branded products.
In May, the Brazilian parent company said it faced “adversities in almost all countries”, after it swung into the red in the first quarter, hitting its shares.
The meat major booked a loss of 1.5bn reais ($304.7m) for the opening three months of the year, compared to net income of 4.6bn reais in the first quarter of 2022. Revenue fell 4.6% to 86.7bn reais.
