Seaboard to Open Ham Plant in Mexico

August 18, 2008 — 

Shawnee Mission, Kansas-based Seaboard Corp. said its Seaboard Foods unit is expected to complete construction of a ham-boning and processing plant in Reynosa, Mexico, later this year or early in 2009.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Seaboard said that in April, 2008, its pork division entered an agreement to build and operate a majority-owned ham-boning and processing plant in Mexico.

The plant will employ about 175 people, Seaboard Foods spokesman David Eaheart told Meatingplace.com. The plant will start operations producing boneless fresh hams, with the potential to add other products. It will be a process-only plant, with no plans for slaughter. Expected volume will be 50 million to 60 million pounds annually.

The primary target market for its products will be Mexico, "but products could be sold to other markets," said Eaheart. Reynosa is located some 60 miles west of Brownsville, Texas.

The company put the total cost of the plant at $10.0 million, with about $8.1 million to be spent in the remainder of 2008.

Source:
MeatingPlace.com, August 8, 2008
By Janie Gabbett on 8/7/2008