Saudi Arabia Amps Up Global Food-Security Push With Brazil Poultry Deal
- State-owned Salic and Brazil’s Marfrig agree to buy BRF shares
- Desert kingdom is heavily reliant on agricultural imports
This article is for subscribers only.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its expansion into the global food industry with a pact to buy shares of BRF SA, Brazil’s biggest poultry producer.
It’s the latest in a series of recent moves by Saudi Arabia to secure food supplies, diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil — all pillars of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 strategic plan. The kingdom has ramped up its push into agriculture after the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent food prices to a record, upended trade flows and laid bare the fragility of the world’s supply chains.