A year after opening a Seara factory in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the food giant JBS announced an expansion of the unit, which will double its local production capacity. The new factory is projected to be operational in the second quarter of this year.
The resources to enable the factory expansion are part of an $85 million package invested by the company since 2021, when it arrived in the country with the opening of an industrial plant in the port city of Dammam.
“We decided to double our capacity due to the excellent reaction we've been having in the local market for our brand. For us, it's very important to advance in Saudi Arabia, a country where we've been directly active for five years,” says João Campos, CEO of Seara, in an interview with NeoFeed .
The resources allocated by the company in Saudi Arabia during this period include, in addition to the two factories in the country, the capital expenditure necessary for product distribution, such as investments in trucks. Seara also has distribution centers in the country.
At its Jeddah plant, Seara manufactures chicken-based products such as breaded chicken, marinated chicken, fillets, and hamburgers. The new industrial area will guarantee increased volume from the items already produced. The Dammam factory produces beef hamburgers, sausages, and other products.
On Thursday, January 22nd, the company will hold an event to mark the official opening of the factory, with local Seara clients, and will also detail its expansion plan for the market.
Since there is no need for further civil works in the area, as the initial construction included a new production space, the current phase involves the installation of machinery.
The start of production in Jeddah, the first greenfield project in the Middle East, has already quadrupled the company's reach to Arab consumers compared to the volume of its industrial park in Dammam.
In addition to this expansion planned for the coming months, there is a future plan to evaluate new investments, precisely to support market growth.
The company also announced a partnership with the local meat processing plant Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment (Entaj), located in the capital Riyadh, to launch a line of whole chickens and other poultry cuts in the country.
“This initiative will represent an increase in our portfolio in Saudi Arabia. Currently, Seara does not have certain cuts of fresh chicken, nor whole chickens under our brand, in the local market,” says Campos.
“Besides contributing to the brand's growth in segments where it wasn't present, we will support a local producer who already makes this type of product. We will now have practically our entire portfolio in the Arab market,” adds the CEO.
The products that JBS exports from Brazil today are used for processing, since they can be frozen. In the case of whole chicken, which needs to be chilled, it has to be produced locally. Hence the need for the alliance with the Arab meatpacking company, which will allocate part of its production to Seara.
According to Campos, demand in Saudi Arabia has grown significantly for the company, which, in the executive's assessment, signals important potential for market growth.
“We have a long-term commitment to the country. We are one of the main exporters to the Middle East and already have a long-term partnership. For us, it was important to be able to expand the brand's presence in the region, with the installation of factories,” he says.
Seara's new factory already exports to other countries in the region, such as Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. The expansion will also guarantee more jobs. It will generate 500 direct jobs, bringing the total number of JBS employees in Saudi Arabia to 950.
With its expansion into Saudi Arabia, JBS holds the third position in frozen chicken market share , with 93% brand awareness in the frozen food category in the Gulf Cooperation Council region (an organization that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, in addition to Saudi Arabia itself).
The goal is to position the country over the years as a production and export hub for the company's food products, serving the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other global markets.
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange since June 2025 and with Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs) issued on the B3, JBS has seen a 10% increase in its shares during this period. The company has a market capitalization of US$16.92 billion.
