Mr.Z RETURNS TO CONCENTRATE ITS FOCUS ON BEEF JERKY

The Brazilian Mr.Z - International Food Company, the largest "beef jerky" (smoked meat snack) producer of the country, desisted to verticalize its operations and returned to concentrate the attention to its main product, that is already exported to over 60 countries.

That's the reason of the announcement, made last week, that the company closed a deal to lease its slaughter and deboning facility in Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, to Independência, one of the largest beef slaughterers of the country.

The agreement signed also involves the distribution and cold storage center of Mr.Z in Itupeva, countryside of São Paulo. The leases are valid for five years and may be extended for another five. In Itupeva Mr.Z will continue only with its "beef jerky" production complex and adjacent installations.

"With the verticalization, we were spending energy in areas we were not leaders and had no experience. We are leaders in "beef jerky" and that is where we want to maintain ourselves", says José Barbosa Machado Neto, president of Mr.Z. He informs that the company had already stopped to operate the slaughter facility in Jales, São Paulo, and that it will transfer a similar operation at the Fernandópolis facility, also in São Paulo.

With that, Machado Neto says, Mr.Z will strengthen our own brand sales in the United Sates - the main foreign market -, in countries of the Middle East, Europe and even in Brazil, where he began investing his brand during the past weeks.

However, the market that really stands out is the United States, where the "beef jerky" is very popular. There, Mr.Z operates in over 3 thousand points of sale and wants to reach 40 thousand. According to Machado Neto, 61% of the importations of the products are attended by the Brazilian company.

Source: Jornal Valor - February 18^th, 2008

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