Sao Paulo | Reuters — The world’s largest meatpacker JBS SA laid off 650 workers and closed a plant in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state due to the lack of cattle ready for slaughter, a state labour official and the company said on Wednesday.
JBS CEO Wesley Batista said last week that the first three months of 2015 in Brazil were “quite challenging” due to high cattle prices, even as the company’s overall profits soared to a quarterly record.
Official government data also showed Brazil’s jobless rate rose to a three-year high in March as the country faces its worst recession in 25 years.
A local labour official said the closure of the plant would leave 3.3 per cent of the population of the town of Sao Jose dos Quatro Marcos unemployed. A JBS press representative confirmed the closure of the plant by email.
— Reporting for Reuters by Caroline Stauffer.
