From meat to aerospace, Brazilian companies want to do business in KSA as we end a week marked by a visit to Riyadh by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula, as he is better known.

#1- A Brazilian meat giant is mulling fresh investment in KSA. A member of the founding family of meat processor JBS, in town with Brazil’s president for meetings with top Saudi officials, said yesterday that, “Every day we become more interested in exploring the possibility of making much more relevant investments than we had been thinking about in the past.”

Background- JBS already has a plant in Dammam and is building a facility in Jeddah that will quadruple the company’s annual capacity to some 40k tons of chicken per year.

Sound smart- Away from the Kingdom, JBS’ parent company, J&F, also has units working food, mining, pulp, paper, and energy.

#2- Aerospace and defense stalwart Embraer is looking to line up new business and explore investment opportunities with SAMI, as PIF-backed Saudi Arabia Military Industries is better known. Embraer will make sure it has “comprehensive maintenance capabilities” for its aircraft in the Kingdom and is pushing hard for sales of its C-390 Millennium military multi-mission transport aircraft as well as to get in on contracts with the Ministry of Defense. The two companies will explore setting up a regional maintenance hub for the C-390 and may also set up a final assembly line for the aircraft here.

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