SÃO PAULO — JBS S.A. plans to quadruple its production capacity in Saudi Arabia with a new processing plant in the city of Jeddah.

Through a $50 million investment, the plant will open in November, focusing on the production of chicken fingers. JBS expects 500 jobs to be created as a result of this new operation.

The announcement follows a meeting Gilberto Tomazoni, JBS global chief executive officer, had with representatives from the Ministry of Saudi Arabia, including Bandar Alkhorayef, minister of industry and mineral resources; Khalid Al-Shehri, director of the food processing sector; Matar Al Harthi, head of the mining department; and Fahad Al Jubairy, head of the department of strategic sectors. There, the leaders analyzed JBS’s investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

JBS already has over 30 years of history exporting poultry to Saudi Arabia. The company recently opened a processing plant in Dammam that employs approximately 250 people and has the capacity to produce around 10,000 tonnes of product per year.