Meat&Poultry - March 2011 - 36

THE TOP 125 PROCESSORS

Winner’s circle
Ranking the industry’s top processors
BY KIMBERLIE CLYMA
kclyma@sosland.com

anking the top 125 processors in the meat and poultry industry (including those with operations in North America) is a challenging annual task. Compiling the data requires months of preparation and countless hours of e-mailing, faxing and followup phone calls. The goal of this annual listing is to provide an overview of the meat and poultry processing industry’s leading companies based on annual sales and to include any changes among them resulting from mergers,

acquisitions or closures. Companies on this year’s ranking range from just over $28 billion in annual sales (Tyson Foods, Inc.) down to $115 million in sales. The top 10 spots in the 2011 ranking were occupied by the same 10 companies as 2010. However, Smithfield Foods, Inc. went down from No. 4 in 2010, with annual sales of $12.48 billion, to No. 5 in 2011, with $11.20 billion in annual sales. This change resulted in Sysco Corp. moving up to the No. 4 position this year. In a message to its shareholders as part of the company’s 2010 annual report, Smithfield President and CEO C. Larry Pope said the decline in sales was intentional. “It ref lects the continued rationalization of low-margin business and the reduction in the number of hogs brought to market as a result of the smaller US sow herd.” Some notable industry changes that impacted the 2011 ranking include: • AdvancePierre Foods, a newly formed company following the merger of Advance Brands, LLC (ranked No. 97 in 2010), Advance Food Co. (ranked No. 53 in 2010) and Pierre Foods (ranked No. 40 in 2010) moved up to the No. 23 spot for 2011. The newly merged company, which was officially formed last October, is being led by Bill Toler, Pierre Foods’ former CEO,

while executives from all three companies are on the AdvancePierre Foods management team. • Agri Beef Co., moved up from No. 60 with $450 million in annual sales in 2010, to No. 38 based on industry research that indicates the company’s annual sales to be closer to $700 million across its vertically integrated enterprise. • JBS USA sales fi gures now include sales from its acquisition of shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in 2010. • Sofina Foods Inc. has now entered the ranking as No. 33 with $800 million in annual sales following its acquisition of Lilydale, Inc. (ranked No. 63 with $405 million in sales in 2010). • Peco Foods recently announced it will be acquiring Townsends Arkansas Division and the Ukraine’s Omtron will acquire Townsends North Carolina Division. Townsends fi led for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 19, 2010. The 2011 listing does not take into account any new sales figures from this acquisition. • Sigma Alimentos S.A. de C.V. moved from No. 18 in 2010 to No. 15 this year. In August 2010, Sigma announced it would acquire processed meat manufacturer Bar-S Foods. Bar-S had annual sales of $540 million in 2010, and ranked No. 51. As always, processors are encouraged to contact M&P to request a survey to ensure this annual list is as accurate as possible. E-mail requests to: meatpoultry@ sosland.com. ■
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36 • Meat&Poultry • March 2011 • www.MeatPoultry.com

Meat&Poultry - March 2011

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