SÃO PAULO – JBS SA reported net income for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, totaling 6.5 billion reals ($1.31 billion), which increased 61% from the previous year.

For the fiscal year 2021, JBS SA showed a net income of 20.5 billion reals ($4.15 billion) which was a 345% increase year over year.

Consolidated net revenue for the fourth quarter went up 27.8% to 97.2 billion reals ($19.68 billion) from 76.1 billion reals ($15.4 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the 2020 fiscal year of net revenue, JBS reported 350.7 billion reals ($71 billion), a nearly 30% increase from the previous year. 

“The past year included several great achievements for JBS,” said Gilberto Tomazoni, global chief executive officer of JBS. “We have excelled in our purpose to feed people around the world, providing the best products in a sustainable way. At the same time, we invested in strengthening the foundation that will fuel the company’s growth in the coming years.”

When looking at segments in the business, JBS USA Beef in 2021, reported net revenue of $27.18 billion, which is up 25.3% from 2020. For the fourth quarter, JBS USA Beef showed $7.5 billion in revenue, which was up 1.6% from the same quarter in 2020.

JBS USA Pork reported 2021 net revenue of $7.63 billion up 22.5% from 2020. However, JBS USA Pork reported $1.90 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, down 9% from the same quarter last year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. reported 2021 net revenue of $14.77 billion, which is up 22.2% from 2020. The subsidiary reported $4.04 billion of revenue in the fourth quarter, which increased by 5.5%.

“Despite a challenging and volatile market due to rising costs, supply chain disruption, labor shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic, Pilgrim’s significantly improved quarterly and yearly results as a consequence of well executed strategy and a strong and balanced portfolio,” JBS said in its earnings statement. “In the United States, demand and prices have remained at robust levels. The food service business continues to advance when compared to the same period a year ago, while retail sales remained strong and were above pre-pandemic levels. The prepared foods category continues improving, and the Pilgrim’s and Just Bare brands have grown significantly in both the retail and e-commerce channels. Margins also continued improving in the big bird operation, despite higher raw material and operating costs, in addition to a suboptimal product mix, due to the significant shortage of labor.”

JBS also highlighted some of the acquisitions it made during the year including Pilgrim’s Pride taking over the meats and meals business of Kerry Consumer Foods in the United Kingdom and Ireland for approximately $952 million. The company also moved into the cultivated meat space with the acquisition of Spanish Company BioTech Foods SL in November 2021.

More information on the JBS Earnings for 2021 can be found here.