Billionaire beef baron warns US not producing enough to satisfy protein craze

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.One of many billionaire brothers behind the world’s largest meat firm has mentioned the US isn’t producing sufficient beef to feed the nation’s rising urge for food for protein-rich diets, making it extra reliant on imports.“The US is going through the best beef worth in historical past and so the US must import an increasing number of as a result of manufacturing isn’t there to help the demand,” mentioned Wesley Batista, whose household based and controls Brazil’s JBS.The typical worth of a pound of floor beef rose to a file excessive of $6.32 in US cities in August, a 13 per cent enhance up to now 12 months, in accordance with labour division information.Regardless of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping “liberation day” tariffs introduced in April, the US imported 30 per cent extra beef within the first half of the 12 months, in contrast with the earlier 12 months, in accordance with the US Division of Agriculture.Imports of Brazilian beef soared 91 per cent in the identical interval, earlier than falling again in August after the US raised tariffs on Brazilian items from 10 per cent to 50 per cent. JBS is the main beef producer within the US, with 9 amenities within the nation. The group’s wider meat and meals enterprise within the US accounted for half of its $77bn revenues in 2024.Batista, talking at Rothschild’s shopper convention in London final month, mentioned the rising use of GLP-1 weight reduction medicine may very well be driving rising demand for protein. GLP-1 customers are suggested to make sure they eat loads of protein to retain muscle density. “Nobody is aware of precisely what’s the impression of those new medicine, Ozempic or Mounjaro . . . however one thing is occurring as a result of protein total grew to become [a trend],” Batista mentioned. “Up to now . . . the physician mentioned you shouldn’t eat too [many] eggs, you shouldn’t eat an excessive amount of protein. Now it’s the opposite method round”.A survey final 12 months by the Worldwide Meals Info Council, an industry-funded non-profit organisation, discovered 71 per cent of respondents have been attempting to eat extra protein, in contrast with 67 per cent in 2023 and 59 per cent in 2022. Batista, who was previously JBS chief government and now sits on its board, mentioned tariffs weren’t hurting JBS as a result of the enterprise produces nearly all of its beef for the US market domestically.“In fact merchandise are nonetheless getting dearer in some markets, however demand continues to be very sturdy, particularly within the US,” he added.Larissa Alvarez, analyst at monetary companies and buying and selling firm StoneX, mentioned the rise in US beef costs “is especially pushed by the diminished cattle provide, with the smallest herd for the reason that Nineteen Fifties”.Droughts within the American west and south-east have dried up grazing lands and compelled US ranchers to shrink their herds. Report excessive costs for calves have additionally spurred ranchers to money in as a substitute of breeding them.“[This is] mixed with structurally sturdy home demand given the excessive per capita consumption, because the nation is among the largest shoppers on the planet,” mentioned Alvarez.Managed by Wesley and Joesley Batista, whose father based the corporate greater than 70 years in the past, JBS has grown from a provincial slaughterhouse right into a titan of the worldwide meals {industry}. RecommendedThe firm, which can also be the second largest hen and pork producer within the US, has begun diversifying into eggs, fish, prepared meals and plant-based merchandise lately. The brothers, who personal just below half of JBS shares however maintain a big majority of its voting rights, fulfilled a long-held dream of a US itemizing by shifting JBS’s major buying and selling venue from São Paulo to New York in June, overcoming fierce opposition from environmental activists. Since then shares within the São Paulo-headquartered group have risen 3.5 per cent, valuing it at $15.9bn.Over the previous decade JBS was embroiled in a political corruption scandal in its residence nation and been closely criticised by marketing campaign teams for its alleged contribution to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest by cattle farming.The corporate has mentioned it’s rooting out deforestation from its provide chains and Batista mentioned final month there was numerous scope for Brazil’s beef sector to turn into extra environment friendly.“We’re working in every single place with farmers . . . to assist them to have the ability to produce extra . . . with the identical quantity of land, with the identical quantity of sources,” mentioned Batista. He added that US farmers might produce the identical quantity of beef with half the herd measurement as their counterparts in Brazil, due to selective breeding and superior diet.