The Biggest Meat Companies

Published September 30, 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026 · 4 min read

Meat companies buy cattle, pigs and poultry from farmers or raise the animals themselves, then slaughter, cut and process them into fresh meat, sausages and ready meals. These were the ten largest by revenue in their latest financial year:

Group revenue in the latest reported financial year (2024/25 and 2025/26 are financial years ending in that year). Companies reporting in Chinese yuan, Thai baht, Brazilian reais or Japanese yen were converted at average exchange rates ("c."). Subsidiaries such as Pilgrim's Pride (JBS) and Smithfield (WH Group) are included in their parent. Europe's largest - Danish Crown, Premium Food Group (Tönnies) and Vion - are smaller and publish less. Sources: company annual results.

The ten companies in brief

JBS

Founded in 1953 as a small slaughterhouse in Anápolis, Brazil, JBS is controlled by the Batista family and has been listed in New York since June 2025. It processes beef, chicken and pork on several continents; its subsidiaries include Pilgrim's Pride in the US, Seara in Brazil and Moy Park in Europe.

Tyson Foods

Founded in 1935 in Arkansas, where it is still based, Tyson is listed in New York and controlled by the Tyson family through voting shares. It is the largest US meat company, with chicken, beef and pork as well as brands such as Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm.

MBRF (Marfrig + BRF)

MBRF was formed in 2025 from the merger of the Brazilian beef processor Marfrig and the poultry and pork company BRF, owner of the Sadia and Perdigão brands; it is led by Marfrig's founder Marcos Molina. Through National Beef it is also one of the four large US beef packers.

WH Group

The Hong Kong-listed WH Group grew out of China's Shuanghui and became the world's largest pork company in 2013 with the takeover of Smithfield Foods, the largest US pork producer. Smithfield returned to the stock market in 2025; WH Group still owns about 90% of it.

Muyuan Foods

Founded in 1992 in Henan province, Muyuan is the world's largest pig producer: it sold almost 78 million hogs in 2025. Unlike most rivals it raises the pigs in its own very large farms instead of through contract farmers, and it is listed in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Charoen Pokphand Foods

CP Foods is the food arm of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand group, controlled by the Chearavanont family. It covers the whole chain from feed mills to pig, chicken and shrimp farming and ready meals, with operations in some 17 countries.

Wens Foodstuff

Founded in 1983 in Guangdong and listed in Shenzhen, Wens is one of China's largest pig and broiler-chicken producers. Its model relies on tens of thousands of contract farmers who raise the animals with Wens' piglets, chicks and feed.

Hormel Foods

Founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, Hormel is listed in New York; a charitable foundation is its largest shareholder. It is best known for branded products such as Spam, Skippy peanut butter, Planters nuts and Jennie-O turkey.

Minerva Foods

Based in Barretos, São Paulo state, Minerva is South America's largest beef exporter, with slaughterhouses in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Australia. In 2024 it bought most of Marfrig's South American beef plants; Saudi Arabia's SALIC is a major shareholder.

NH Foods

Based in Osaka and listed in Tokyo, NH Foods (Nippon Ham) is Japan's largest meat company, selling ham, sausages and fresh meat and raising cattle and pigs in Australia and the Americas. It also owns the baseball team Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Brazil, the United States and China lead

Brazilian companies grew into the world's biggest meat exporters on the back of cheap feed and pasture: JBS, MBRF and Minerva ship beef and chicken worldwide. In the US, a few packers - Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef - process most fed cattle. China's leaders are different: Muyuan and Wens are above all farming companies that raise tens of millions of pigs and chickens themselves - Muyuan sold 78 million hogs in 2025 - while WH Group owns both China's largest pork processor and the US company Smithfield.

Integration and contracts

Poultry is the most integrated meat: the company owns the birds and the feed and pays contract farmers to raise them. Pigs are increasingly produced the same way, while beef still relies on many independent ranchers selling cattle on cash or formula markets. The more integrated a chain is, the less of the price risk sits with the farmer - but also the less room there is to sell elsewhere.

What it means for livestock prices

Processor margins swing with the herd cycle: when cattle are scarce, as in the US in recent years, packers pay record prices for animals and margins shrink; when herds are large, the balance shifts the other way. Disease outbreaks such as African swine fever or avian flu can close export markets overnight. How feed costs and herd cycles move beef, pork and chicken prices is explained in Livestock Markets.