Ongoing food price inflation has the beleaguered American consumer generally feeling a little stressed out, tired, and less than secure about their economic status and outlook. Yet despite all that, “people gotta eat,” as they say.
The Greatest Gains chart is designed to showcase the companies that have shown the strongest growth over the past year. These are not necessarily the largest companies in the country; several of them did not make the cutoff for the Top 100 Report. However, their successful years deserve to be mentioned as well.
Typically, the Top 100 serves as a good indicator of how the industry has performed, and what the expectations were for the coming year. If the industry is going through strong periods, we will see record sales, acquisitions, expansions and other initiatives.
After several years of record sales and optimism, meat and poultry processors featured in our annual Top 100 Processors Report display a more cautious outlook for the industry.
In recent years, our annual Top 100 Processors Report was littered with constant references to record sales, best years ever and rosy outlooks for the future. That has, at least temporarily, come to a halt in the 2019 edition, as processors are realizing they face slower sales and looming problems.
As processors pushed to make the most of good economic conditions in 2017, sales are up, acquisitions are occurring more frequently and expansion is happening in the meat and poultry industry.
For the first time in recent memory, there is a new company at the top of The National Provisioner's annual Top 100 Meat and Poultry Processors Report. Backed by growth in its beef and pork divisions, JBS Holdings holds the top spot in this year’s survey of the meat and poultry industry.