MBRF Global Foods Company S.A.

MBRF Global Foods Company S.A.

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 14, 2026

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to MBRF's Q2 2026 earnings call.

This is being recorded. You can watch the replay at ri.mbrf.com.

You can also download the slides. All participants are currently in listen-only mode, and we will then open the call for questions with further instructions at that time.

Before we get going, let me remind you that forward-looking statements rest on what MBRF's management believes and expects and on the information the company has at hand today. Because they deal with what lies ahead, these statements carry risks and uncertainties, and they hinge on circumstances that may or may not occur.

Investors, analysts, and members of the press should keep in mind that swings in the broader economy, in our industry, and other factors could drive results to differ materially from what those statements point to. With us today, we have Mr.

Miguel Gularte, our CEO, Mr. Tim Klein of the North America operation, and José Inácio Carceroni, our CFO.

I would now like to hand the call over to Mr. Miguel Gularte.

Please go ahead, sir.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning. Welcome to MBRF's call to present our consolidated results for Q2 2026.

We closed the quarter with a solid performance and record sales volume for a second quarter, which speaks to how well our strategy is working and to the discipline we've brought to execution across every operation. Net revenue came to 40.7 billion reais in the quarter, up 4.9% on the same period versus last year.

EBITDA totaled 3.2 billion reais, up 5.4% with a 7.9% margin. Net income came at 69 million BRL, which shows we can keep delivering consistent results even against a tough macro backdrop.

We continue to build out our multi-protein platform, strengthening our operations, widening our footprint in the markets where we operate, and broadening our offer of higher added-value products. These moves help underpin the value we create and to get the company ready for long-term growth.

Now, I'll hand the call over to our CFO, José Inácio Carceroni to take you through the quarter in details, and I'll come back later.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Good morning, everyone. We now go through our consolidated results for the second quarter of 2026, covering our three business segments: Beef North America, Beef South America, and BRF.

Let me highlight the following for the second quarter. We reported 40.7 billion reais in consolidated net revenue.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA came in at 3.2 billion reais with a consolidated margin of 7.9%. Net income, in turn, was 69 million reais for the quarter, and reported operating cash flow was 2.2 billion.

Finally, we closed the quarter with leverage of 3.41 times LTM EBITDA. On the next slide, on the left, we show how volume, net revenue, and EBITDA moved, both in total and by segment, year-over-year.

We saw growth across every metric, with volumes in the beef operations standing out. Beef North America accounted for 46% of reported revenue in the period, BRF 38%, and Beef South America for 16% of reported revenue in the period.

Adjusted EBITDA was 3.2 billion with a 7.9% margin, of which BRF made up 79%, South America 17, and North America 4%. Worth noting that the synergies we capture from the merger helped bring the company's consolidated administrative expenses down 13% in Q2 '26 versus Q2 '25.

On the currency side, 72% consolidated revenue is generated in US dollars and 28% in reais and other currencies. To underscore the company's geographic spread and multi-protein portfolio, here is the revenue breakdown: 45% comes from the United States, 23 from Brazil, and the rest is spread mainly across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, with roughly 40% of sales volume coming from processed, value-added products.

We'll now turn to performance by business segment. I'll hand it over to Tim Klein, who will take you through the North America results.

Tim Klein

Thank you, Ignacio. Let's begin with slide 6, where I'll review our second quarter results.

Starting with the chart on the left, sales volume increased 2% compared to the same period last year. Industry slaughter volume declined 7%, reflecting lower cattle placements and longer feeding periods.

Favorable fed cattle prices relative to feed cost of gain, together with elevated replacement cattle prices, continued to incentivize cattle feeders to extend feeding periods. As a result, average live weights increased significantly during the quarter.

Net sales were 3.7 billion, representing an increase of 14.9% versus the prior year. EBITDA was 26 million, an increase of 1.7% compared to last year, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 0.7%.

Consumer demand for beef remained resilient throughout the quarter despite record retail prices. While boxed beef prices increased year-over-year, those gains were insufficient to fully offset the continued increase in cattle costs.

Now let's turn to slide 7, where I'll review the US market data. Beginning with the chart on the left, USDA reported Kansas live cattle prices averaged $254.45 per hundredweight, an increase of 15.9% compared to the prior year.

The USDA comprehensive cutout averaged $391.25 per hundredweight, up 11.1% year-over-year, while the USDA reported drop credit increased 23.8% to an average of $14.20 per hundredweight. The USDA cutout ratio was 1.54 compared to 1.60 in the same period last year.

As anticipated, fed cattle supply remained meaningfully lower year-over-year, resulting in lower capacity utilization across the industry. Looking ahead, given the current cattle supply dynamics, the significant year-over-year reduction in available cattle being offset somewhat by recent plant closures, we believe second half margins have the potential to improve relative to the first half.

We remain encouraged by the strength of beef demand and expect demand fundamentals to remain supportive as we continue through this phase of the cattle cycle. With that, I'll turn the call back to Ignacio.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Thank you, Tim. Let's move on to slide 8, where we lay out how our South America operations performed in Q2 of this year.

Starting with the chart on the left, volume came to 273,000 tons in the quarter, up 8.8% year-over-year. Moving to the chart in the middle, net revenue reached 6.4 billion reais in the quarter, 26% above the second quarter of 2025.

On the chart to the right, adjusted EBITDA came to 570 million reais, up 22% on EBITDA for the same period last year. That gives us an EBITDA margin of 8.9%, in line with what we reported in the second quarter of '25.

This performance comes from the productivity gains delivered by the investments we've made in recent years, from higher capacity utilization at our plants, and from a sharper focus on value-added products. On the next slide, on the left, we break revenue down by origin, which underscores how diversified the company footprint is.

In the second quarter, export sales made up 62% of the operation's total revenue. Sales to Asia grew and now account for 53% of Beef South America's exports.

Sales to North America made up 24%. Given today's environment, it's worth pointing out that our exports to the US benefit from the logistics and the reach of National Beef's commercial platform.

The European Union accounted for 16% of segment revenue in exports for the quarter. That figure drops to 11% if we look only at exports out of Brazil, which in turn account for just 1% of MBRF's consolidated revenue.

Slide 10 shows the results of the BRF operation. In Q2, results were underpinned by a balanced supply and demand picture, and in the domestic market, by a sequential growth in volumes sold.

Starting with the chart on the left, volume was 1.0 million tons in the quarter, in line with the same quarter last year. Net revenue was 15.4 billion reais for the period, up 1.1% when compared to Q2 '25.

We reported 2.6 billion reais in EBITDA with a healthy margin of 16.8%, up 45 bps on the second quarter of 2025. On the next page, we highlight sequential growth of 4.6% in domestic volumes sold, helped by an increase both in the number of customers served and in items sold.

Bringing the sales forces together as part of the synergies from the business combination extended our reach and took our beef portfolio into 20,000 additional points of sale. During the quarter, we launched products aimed at the growing appetite for protein, such as the Sadia Pro line.

Innovation continues to add to the bottom line. It's also worth noting that Sadia and Perdigão once again rank as the most chosen food brands in Brazil.

Just below, we show the export market highlights. We furthered widened our export options with 34 new export licenses secured in the quarter, and in Turkey, we saw profitability improve.

Slide 12 brings the results of Sadia Halal, one of the largest halal protein production and distribution platforms in the world. In the second quarter of this year, Sadia Halal posted another record for profitability with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.1%, up 690 bps on the same period of 2025.

Over the last 12 months, adjusted EBITDA reached $314 million. Our strong presence in the Gulf countries and our logistics expertise continued to support food security in the region and to help us work around operational challenges.

We're moving ahead with preparations for the Sadia Halal IPO. This is expected to take place in the Riyadh stock exchange in Saudi Arabia.

Slide 13 sets out free cash flow. The bridge shows operating cash generation of 2.2 billion reais.

CapEx in the period came in at 1.4 billion reais, while financial expenses totaled 1.6 billion, leaving us with negative free cash flow of 860 million reais. Slide 14, the next slide, shows consolidated net debt at the end of Q2 2026.

We reported net debt of 45 billion reais, up 2.4% from the first quarter of this year, leverage at 3.41 times. Let me stress that we remain focused on the company's capital structure.

Where leverage sits today is a direct read on conditions in the US cattle cycle and on the working capital build in the first half of 2026, which we'll go through in the next slide. On slide 15, we highlight the room the company has to improve cash conversion.

In the first two quarters of this year, working capital absorbed cash, with inventories and biological assets running above where they stood at the end of 2025, given market conditions and the seasonality of the business, as the two charts on this page indicate. Beyond the inventory shown on the slide, the second quarter of this year also saw more than 600 million reais absorbed in the accounts payable line.

The cash absorption is what explains the drop in cash conversion and the negative cash flow in the first half of the year. This is a picture we expect to turn around in the second half.

Page 16 brings the highlights and progress on our ESG agenda: a commitment to monitoring 100% of our cattle supplies, with 113 farms brought back into the supply chain; the Gold Seal from the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program; the Pró-Ética seal from the Office of the Comptroller General, which recognizes companies committed to corporate governance; the launch of compostable trays by Sadia, a first in Brazil; recognition at the Socioeconomic Inclusion Award from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance. Thank you, and now hand the call over to our CEO, Mr.

Miguel Gularte for his closing remarks.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Now I would like to emphasize some of the important steps this quarter, reinforcing our confidence in the company ahead. In the Beef North America operations, we showed resilience and competitiveness, growing volume even with cattle supply as tight as it is.

Strong beef demand and the efficiency of our operation allowed us to keep delivering consistent results and growing the top line. In Beef South America, we moved our expansion strategy forward, backed by the added capacity and productivity gains.

Global protein demand remains strong, and our plants hold export licenses for the main consumer markets, which has helped drive revenue in the segment. At BRF, results kept improving steadily, helped by a balanced supply and demand picture and by higher volume sold in the Brazilian market, which hit the best level in June.

I'd also like to highlight an important win in the quarter, 34 new export licenses, which widens our market access and strengthens our ability to capture revenue and margin. In the Middle East, Sadia Halal's record profitability deserves a mention, underpinned by price dynamics that stayed ahead of the additional logistics costs.

Our presence in the Sadia brand since 1970, along with our competitive edge in logistics, commercial reach, and local production, continues to help us serve and supply the region. Another meaningful step this quarter was capturing 158 million in synergies, in line with our plan for the period, on top of 328 million in efficiencies throughout the MBRF+ program.

These numbers show how focused we are on simplifying processes and making the company leaner every day. As we push ahead with integrating our operations with commercial synergies, we've now taken our beef portfolio to 20,000 new points of sales in Brazil.

With a single sales force, we have room to grow that customer base even further. Today, it stands at more than 340,000 customers across the country.

I'd also point out that we have National Beef's distribution platform behind us, which benefits our exports from South America into the United States. Before I wrap up, I'd like to share a positive result when you think about the recent integration in the company.

In our first annual engagement survey as MBRF, we reached 88% among our employees, 4 percentage points above the average for Brazilian companies and 3 percentage points above the benchmark for high-performance organizations. That speaks to the commitment of our people and to the strength of the culture we're building.

I want to thank our Chairman, Marcos Molina, for his trust, for the strategic direction he has set with a long-term view, and for his unwavering support in building MBRF. My thanks as well to the members of the board and our shareholders for their partnerships and for their confidence in our management team.

I'd also like to thank our employees, our customers, our integrated producers, our suppliers, and the communities where we operate. The commitment of every one of these groups is essential to the results we've delivered and to keep us on this path of sustainable growth.

Thank you very much.

Operator

We will now begin the Q&A session for investors and analysts. If you'd like to ask a question, please press the raise hand button.

Once your question has been answered, you can drop out of the queue by clicking that same button again. Let me remind you, to ask questions in Portuguese, click on the globe icon and select Portuguese.

For questions in English, click on the same button and choose English. Renata Cabral from Citi asks the first question.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Renata Cabral

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for taking my question. My first one addresses BRF that comes in with a very strong margins well above expectations.

My question is about an outlook for that business unit in the second half of the year. What's your take on both the domestic market, how consumers are responding to the company's products and what's your expectations are for the second half of the year?

In the first half of the year, we've seen the important role that exports played. Do you see a positive scenario for the second half of the year, too?

Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning. Let me address the outlook for the second half of the year.

When we look at the entire year, we started out, and month after month, things picked up gradually. February was better than January, March better than February, and so on and so forth.

That has been driven by our presence, the Sadia brands, Qualy brand, and customers focused on protein levels. Protein has always been the number one priority for families.

When we look at international markets, the scenario is favorable. As of December of last year, prices recovered on a month-by-month basis.

When the war broke out in the Middle East, the company made the right choices. We kept on shipping and serving our customers.

That was a very correct decision because the concept of food security was key to them at any time, but after the conflict, that became even more prevalent. The initial focus was in Saudi Arabia at first, and then it was spread to the entire Middle East.

Driven by our chairman, we decided to choose that region back in 2022. It was both for investments and our business focus.

This was the right thing to do. In the past two years, for example, if you look at Secex data, the Middle East and North Africa is the number one importer.

That was the right decision. When the war broke out, prices were on the rise, and the company was well positioned with reach, experience, and very strong brands.

Of course, we took that opportunity. On the other hand, we have been saying left and right in our calls that we are working on opening up new markets through new licenses.

There are 234 in total now. Again, this is what we have been saying.

The best option is to have more than one option. The export market will remain active, while the domestic market is getting better quarter every quarter, month after month.

That's very important. Let me give you some figures from the ABPA numbers.

Chicken exports, 94.1%; EU, 2%; exports to the US was down 1.8%; and Thailand was down 6.6%. In other words, at every step of the way, no matter what lenses you apply, when you look at the market, there's a perfect balance between supply and demand and a favorable outlook.

Renata Cabral

Thank you, Miguel. Can I ask a second question?

Thank you, Miguel, for the very complete answer. Question number two, perhaps to Inácio on cash consumption in the first half of the year.

We know the seasonal behavior of the business, the first half of the year consuming more cash, but there was some extra cash consumption this first half. Could you give us some color and also the outlook for the second half of the year?

José Ignacio Scoseria

Good morning, Renata. Let me address the cash consumption for the quarter and for the first half of the year.

As you said, our business is seasonal. 2025 was an outlier, but when you go back to 2024, cash generation was seasonal when you compare the first and second halves of the year.

This year, this has been highlighted, especially due to the conflict effects. Over 50,000 additional tons in between Brazil and the Middle East, that was a decision the company chose to do.

The returns are outstanding, so that was a decision that proved to be right. There were more impacts, such as the volumes in confinement in feedlots.

That was very favorable. Now, in Q2, we had higher inventories because we're now building up for that celebratory inventory levels.

As I said, the volume of processed products was below expectations. The finished product inventory was a little above the policy.

We pay PDR in Q2, that impacted cash flow. There were several factors.

On top of that, there's a cash consumption with suppliers to adjust payment terms. They are a little shorter that ended up impacting the quarter.

Anyway, when we look ahead, our expectation, our goals, and our commitment for the second half is to return to business as usual. We remain confident.

We had those seasonal impacts. We made some choices in the first half.

We're not going to include that. We're going to bring that back to the company's cash flow.

In addition to that, when we talk about the cash generation for the company, let me address CapEx for the quarter. CapEx is in line, a little above what we had set forth in Q1.

We believe that the number for Q1 was a little below, but expected. When we look at the entire half in terms of CapEx, we are about 2.5 billion, not including leasing.

We expect the same results for the rest of the year. That would be about 5 billion therefore, which is less than the last 12 months, almost a billion below.

Again, we're making all the decisions to bring that even further down in 2027, maybe reducing by yet another billion. Working capital for the second half, based on what we have been doing in adjusting CapEx, because we've already had a relevant CapEx in recent years, we remain comfortable to reduce that down the road.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

We remain optimistic so that we can improve the cash conversion for the company. Let me piggyback on José Inácio's answer.

Picking inventory that will become cash in the short term has become very relevant based on what we have seen. Performance of Sadia Halal twice as much as last year numbers, we are well positioned for the future IPO.

It's going to be very successful in the Middle East.

Renata Cabral

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you,

Operator

Leonardo Alencar from XP asks the next question. Please go ahead, sir.

Leonardo Alencar

Morning, everyone. I have a question about National Beef.

That's for Tim. I would like to have some color on the market dynamics.

There are many new variables coming to play, and it's difficult to determine the weight of each one of these variables. Based on that Tyson capacity reductions, what would be the impact of this specific piece of news in the dynamics for National Beef?

What's the perspective for later this month, just one port in Mexico, you may be adding another or other ports, what would be the impact of the cattle coming in from Mexico? How would that impact National Beef results?

Maybe the closing down Tyson would be even more relevant to your margins. Maybe Mexico would be maybe mid-term or long-term and more specific, not impacting your plants directly.

Could you help us understand that scenario? Because the margins were squeezed in the quarter.

Let me just finish here, Tim. We've had squeezed margins in Q2.

In first quarter, too. We feel that we're turning that page, but maybe the market is still skeptical to maybe have an understanding of that margins improving.

Tim Klein

Before addressing your specific question, I would like to provide some context on how we view the current cycle. This may answer some of your questions.

As the cattle cycle historically spans somewhere between 10 and 11 years, peak to peak, trough to trough. Over the course of my career, I've experienced four of these cycles, and the current environment that we're in is consistent with the patterns we have seen in previous cycles: reduced cattle supplies, excess industry capacity, compressed margins.

Historically, these market conditions have led to the closure of the less efficient processing facilities, either temporarily or permanently, and helping to bring industry capacity back in balance with available supplies of cattle. From a company standpoint, our business model continues to differentiate us from others in the industry.

Our integrated ownership structure, anchored by US Premium Beef, which is comprised of more than 600 farmers, ranchers, feedlot operators, provides a strong foundation during challenging market conditions, as we're seeing today. This partnership enables us to maximize the value of every carcass while we strengthen and expand our leadership position in value-added products.

In addition, since 2020, when we had excess cash due to the good part of the cycle, we've invested more than $1 billion in capital expenditures to improve plant efficiencies, expand our value-added capabilities. These investments have allowed us to navigate the current cattle cycle more effectively while maintaining our competitive performance relative to our industry peers.

From an industry standpoint, the processing capacity that has exited the industry over the past two years has brought supply and demand into a much better balance. Combined with the gradual normalization of Mexican cattle imports into the United States, we believe the most challenging phase of the cycle is now behind us, and we look forward to improvements going forward.

Regarding your specific question, certainly the announcement of a plant closure yesterday will impact industry capacity immediately. In the last two years, there's been roughly 10% to 12% of capacity that's exited the industry, so that's a significant event.

Regarding Mexico, we don't think the impact of that's going to be felt until the latter half of 2027. The cattle that typically come across the border are lighter, and they'll go on grass before they go into feedlot.

This may be a little different because of the backlog of cattle in Mexico, and we'll have a better answer, a clearer idea on that as cattle start moving north, what the weight breakdowns are, and have a better idea of when they'll come to market. As we look at the current dynamics and some of the things that have taken place in industry, we really believe that the worst of the cycle is behind us and things will get better going forward.

Leonardo Alencar

Thank you, Tim. That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Operator

Gustavo Troyano from Itaú BBA asks the next question.

Gustavo Troyano

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions.

I have two follow-up questions about the cash generation issue that Inácio mentioned. Number one, about working capital, when you say you expect a release of almost the first half of that in the second half, I just wanted to try to understand that take.

How do you consider the risk of El Niño in the grain production looking at 2027? How flexible would you be to adjust your strategy to increase inventory levels because it's difficult to measure, based on information we have now.

That would be my first question. The second question is about CapEx.

Inácio has mentioned that CapEx for 2026 will be about a billion below 2025, and you hope to reduce that even further in '27. I wanted to match that with your understanding.

What should be the maintenance CapEx level given all the investments we've seen in recent years? What's your take?

What would be that maintenance CapEx for the consolidated platform in 2027? Are we there already?

Could we break down by segment what would be the CapEx level for each business unit? That would be great.

Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning, Gustavo. As to your first question, the El Niño risks, since last year with a positive grain situation that we had at the company, we are working with extended inventories, not necessarily inventories, but extended positions.

If you remember last year, we made a bigger purchase of corn as a second crop, and we are now taking long positions of grains, not necessarily physical purchase, but term contracts. We've adopted a policy to extend our position and to try and mitigate the risks, securing the price levels we've seen this year.

I don't see anything different for this year. We are not We are going to have a similar purchase of physical grains in the second crop, but we're not going to extend our position through other tools like term contracts.

Not necessarily a longer position of grains in the future, but perhaps more physical. It will remain long.

We've already done it last year, we did it last year, but not necessarily that will not necessarily require more consumption of working capital in the second half of the year. As Inácio said, we should remember that we have a history of right decisions about our positioning in grain purchases.

We have teams permanently monitoring the situation on the ground. We have teams operating in the different geographies collecting information.

This allows us to take the right decisions. As to your second question on CapEx, the maintenance CapEx that we have in the company is between 3.5 and 4 billion.

Our target for 2027 is to get close to that range, to the floor of that range.

José Ignacio Scoseria

If we break that down per business, and that can be done between BRF and Marfrig when the companies were separated, roughly of those 3.5 to 4 billion in maintenance CapEx, 2.5 to 3 billion would be for BRF, and 1 billion roughly for beef between National Beef and Beef South America. We have a favorable situation, which allows us to see a lower CapEx for 2027.

The investment made in the past four years gives us confidence, allowing the company to keep on growing. Tim mentioned the National Beef investments, more than $1 billion since 2020 were invested, and we have seen the results that were translated into EBITDA.

The company made choices, and those choices were correct.

Gustavo Troyano

Thank you, Inácio and Miguel.

Operator

Our next question comes from Henrique Brustolin from Bradesco. Over to you.

Henrique Brustolin

Good morning, everyone. Good to talk to you.

Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to focus on BRF, specifically the domestic market where we see sequential margin improvements.

It would be interesting to hear what part of your portfolio helped recover your portfolio domestically. We still see pressure on swine and pork production.

How do you see the market dynamics over the second half of the year? Do you see a consistent margin recovery?

Along the same lines, you increase your inventory of finished products in 900 million reais quarter-on-quarter. What's behind that growth, be it inventory in transit preparation for New Year celebration or growing inventory for your core portfolio in the domestic market?

How do you see the sale of that inventory in current market conditions? Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Hi, Henrique. The domestic market has been on the rise.

It's getting better month after month. Earlier this year, we adjusted our prices, and we had to readjust it as of February, and we did that for some category.

Then the market performed better. It's clear that the macroeconomic scenario has been helpful.

People are looking for protein more and more. On the other hand, MBRF has been investing heavily in products that are more practical with more value added, and they are more resilient in terms of consumption and value maintenance more than fresh products.

When you look at fresh products last year and compare to this year, last year we had the avian flu that impacted consumption of fresh products. If we apply the same dynamics to exports, it follows the same logic.

Exports are resilient, are growing, but it involves practical solutions.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Any housewife in the Middle East wants the same quality and the same practical solutions that our brands offer. Therefore, we are very confident that we're getting into a second half of the year, which has been historically more positive.

The holiday season and Sadia and Perdigão go hand in hand with the holiday season in Brazil. We'll remain, of course, focused and working hard to expand our reach even more, to add the beef portfolio to our points of sale BRF.

This has been working very well. 20,000 new POSs this half of the year alone.

We have been very focused. We have over 34 342, or 342,000 customers.

We're adding an additional 20,000. We'll be able to keep on making the right choices, protecting profitability on a day-in, day-out.

Let me just piggyback on what Miguel said. On top of the volumes from the domestic market that have increased substantially and it helped profitability in the domestic market, we had good results coming from Turkey.

Margins there were about zero, and now the second quarter was positive. These were the two highlights that explain the margins evolution.

As to the second question, Henrique, inventory levels at BRF, on one hand, we're now preparing for the holiday season. Inventory for finished products is about 100 million is for that specific purpose.

We're starting production now in Q2. The rest is linked to the fact that this first half of the year has been growing, but we started out below what we expected.

We had the core portfolio, finished products inventory was above the policy. As sales pick up in recent months, we're bringing that inventory levels back to the policy levels.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Inventory for the halal market will have a greater impact in Q1, not so much in Q2. Overall, inventory levels were a little above.

In Q2, the focus is more for the holiday season, for the core portfolio for the company. Now, of course, inventory levels are going to be brought back to the policy levels.

There's another important thing to what Inácio said: these inventory that is on water, 50,000 tons, are getting to their ports of destination, and they'll become cash in second half of the year. We operate with that philosophy to sell to produce, not the other way around.

We are always well positioned to have proper inventory available.

Henrique Brustolin

That was very clear, Inácio. Thank you.

Operator

Isabella Simonato from Bank of America asks the next question.

Isabella Simonato

Morning. Thank you for the call.

My question is to Tim, more focused on the demand for beef in the US. Everything you've done in the past two years and the resilience of the category stand out, but more recently, despite that seasonality, we haven't seen that sustained.

What's your take on the beef dynamics? Because this has been an important part of the profitability equation.

Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Tim, over to you. Yeah.

Tim Klein

Yes, to answer your question, we did not see the normal run-up during the barbecue season as we have in the past, and that certainly impacted the latter part of Q2 and into the first part of Q3. The biggest reason that we see is that we didn't have the retail featuring like we normally do because of the price of beef.

I think the price was at a level the retailers decided not to feature beef heavily, which you move a lot more beef when you feature it, and that's what caused the lack of run-up in cutout prices. Beef demand overall is still very very good.

If you look at the HRI trade, the restaurant trade, it's very strong, there's not a lot of tradeoff to other proteins from beef, even at high prices. Really the main issue was lack of retail featuring.

We are starting to see that now that prices have come down, retailers are stepping back in and putting beef in the ad, I think that's what we're going to see going forward here. Demand to us is very strong and does not give us any concern.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Lucas Ferreira from J.P.

Morgan. Over to you.

Lucas Ferreira

Good morning. I have two follow-up questions.

The first goes to Tim. Tim, you mentioned that the industry capacity was reduced 12% in the past, right?

Is that a net reduction because other plants came into operation in the past two years as well? My question is just to understand from the recent closures that we saw since late last year, how much slaughter reduction have you seen in terms of the number of head per day since late last year till now?

My second question goes to Inácio. Inácio, just to understand the contracts for corn, is that at a fixed price or they just guarantee volume and the price is determined by the market conditions?

Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Tim, over to you.

Tim Klein

Yes, to answer your question, prior to the capacity reductions, we were processing as an industry 100,000 fed cattle per day, and now it's in the high 80s, and that's net of any additional capacity that's come on. The most recent announcement by Tyson yesterday takes 3,000 head out, and that's an immediate capacity reduction that will affect the industry right away.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Good morning, Lucas. We have several types of contract.

We can either choose fixed prices or post-fixed prices, but based on the risks we identified and the current good prices we have now, we have chosen to fix prices to ensure good prices for the coming months. Again, we can pick and choose both types, but we have chosen to choose fixed prices.

Thank you, folks.

Operator

Matheus Enfeldt from UBS asks the next question.

Matheus Enfeldt

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.

My first question is about BRF. In the domestic price market, this is very clear, but let me focus on 2027.

We've been getting negative messages in retail, income availability for 2027 despite the short-term positive results, especially in the second half. What's your take about 2027 if you keep on increasing supply?

The second question is about leverage. It remains relatively high.

I know there's a seasonal working capital issue, but still, it seems to me it's high. It will depend on the turnaround at National Beef.

This is taking place now, but that can only impact leverage in 2028 more substantially. Are there any other short-term levers, any short-term adjustments you can make, especially with the IPO in Halal, can that contribute, too?

I'm thinking about levers to reduce your leverage if you deem that necessary, or is it just a matter of wait and take your time? These are my two questions.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Thank you. Matheus, we have to be careful when we hear the outlook given to us by the retail.

One thing is the overall retail and the retail related to proteins. Even today, proteins experience a different situation compared to other retail items.

In the mid-term, without giving you any guidance for 2027, there is no variable that may change that logic. That is, proteins will still be the center of the Brazilian consumption, one of the most resilient proteins in the retail market.

As for supply changing that balance, this is not what we see at this point. We see a balanced market between supply and demand, and it is very important to take exports into account because Brazilian poultry exports so far has gone up 4.91%, or rather 572,000 tons from January to April against 583,000 this year, above 2% up.

There is no indication that that will change in the short or medium term. At MBRF, we remain focused on exporting to new markets with new export licenses.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning, Matheus. On your questions on our leverage, 3.4 is above our optimum leverage level.

As you mentioned, this is a direct consequence, on the one hand, of the EBITDA of almost zero from National Beef after National Beef normalizes, that leverage would be below 2.5 times, and also the interest rate cycles that is playing a role. In this perfect storm, we are still confident that we can stabilize the leverage at this level and gradually bring that leverage down.

What tools are required to do that? First, management.

We believe that EBITDA, as Tim mentioned, tends to improve in the US. On the other hand, we will keep on delivering synergies, and we already see a good performance of SG&A in the company.

We continue our efficiency gains, on the EBITDA side, we understand there is an upside to gradually bring that leverage down. On the other hand, as we've already said, there are opportunities to bring working capital back in the second half.

We consumed a lot of working capital in the first half of the year. Point number three, CapEx, as we alluded to, has been coming down, and we have a commitment for 2027 to bring CapEx to an even lower level.

With all those organic initiatives, we will be able to bring our leverage gradually down. Additionally, as an extraordinary fact, we still have the 75 million of the first tranche of Sadia Halal that's still not part of our cash.

It will come in until the end of the year, and through an IPO or increased stake at HDBC before the IPO, that extraordinary event will reduce the company leverage position. We will do the basics: EBITDA, working capital, and CapEx.

There should be an improvement in our performance in every line item, and there is this extraordinary item to receive the money of the transaction that has already been made from Sadia Halal or the money coming from the subsequent phases in that transaction. That's what we have right now.

Matheus Enfeldt

Thank you very much.

Operator

Our next question from Laura Santander. Laura Hirata, over to you.

Laura Hirata

Can you hear me? Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for taking my question. I'd like to mention two points.

The first about BRF, specifically on processed food, I'd like to better understand how you see the competition in the sector price-wise and domestic consumption. As we have an oversupply of pork bringing prices down, could you give us your performance by category?

Another topic I would like to address has to do with the Tacuarembó plant in Uruguay that was recently embargoed by China. How do negotiations stand?

If you could give us more color, how big it is, how important it is. You had a recent CapEx focused on processed food and value-added products.

I would like to understand how representative that embargo of the Tacuarembó plant was. Thank you.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning, Laura. Let me address the processed products.

The market, or this market, is influenced by pork, but given the commercial reach we have, the strength of our brands, as well as the possibility of moving processed products that have good sales in many part markets, we can offset part of that drop and not transfer that to prices, so much so that we have been increasing demand on a month-after-month, not changing prices. This is a very resilient move, the way we see it.

In Brazil, processed products are getting to the best half of the year, which is the second half, we're not uncomfortable at all. We remain confident.

I'm sorry to point that out once again, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, we remain confident in our brands, in our commercial teams, also including exports, despite the fact that we do not export as much pork.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Let me complement to what Miguel said. If you take prices, for example, when you compare to prices of last year, the only category within processed products which is or which did not increase when year-over-year is for that type of product.

The rest of the portfolio is very resilient as far as prices is concerned. As to CapEx of processed products between '25 and '26, we've added 160,000 tons a year of processed products, almost 10% above the volume we had.

When you took when you take into account the international markets, out of the three projects, an increase in Tissal plant in the UAE, and then Jeddah, that will be operational in the fourth quarter, and the Henan plant in China. These three projects add up to about 100,000 tons a year, an increase of about 30% of processed products internationally.

This is the result of the CapEx we've invested previously and how that production capacity was impacted. We're going to reap that harvest.

Now, let me address the question about Uruguay. Uruguay produces high-quality beef.

We're the number one organic producer in South America, and we have the National Beef platform supporting all our exports from Brazil, from Uruguay, and from Argentina. That temporary suspension of the Tacuarembó plant from exports to China, we can offset that redirecting that to the other three plants.

Tacuarembó is less than 30% of our production capacity in that country. Yes, we had CapEx invested there for both production, productivity, innovation, and we can serve other markets other than the Chinese market.

Investments were not made specifically for China exports. Exports to China is more commoditized, and that can be fulfilled by the José or by the plant in Salto and Colonia plants.

We do expect that this temporary suspension is short-lived, as it usually the case is in China. We've been working with the Uruguayan government to lift that consumption and suspension, and we expect that to happen.

If not, in the short term, we are absolutely prepared to redirect that from other units using the National American National Beef platform to try to benefit from this good times you have in the Uruguayan beef production, the replenishing of herds and prices getting better, we are positive it's going to change.

Laura Hirata

Thank you, Miguel and Inácio for the answers.

Operator

Thank you. Lucas Mussi from Morgan Stanley asks the next question.

Please go ahead, sir.

Lucas Mussi

Good morning, Miguel, Inácio. Thank you for taking my question.

Two quick questions. The first one is an update on your take on the supply and demand for fresh poultry in Brazil.

We've seen that discussion in the US, new genetics coming in with better attributes as far as mortality rates are concerned. What's your update on this issue looking down the road, not taking to account what's happening this year, but maybe next year, new genetics coming in that can improve production numbers?

My second question is about Halal. Performance has been outstanding, margins well above those we had last year, in part due to your execution after the conflict is started in the region.

What's your take for the rest of the year, for 2027? What would be a normal margin for this business?

Is these 15, 16% sustainable levels, or are we going back to the levels we had back then, about 10 to 11%, taking into account the investments you've made in the region?

Miguel de Souza Gularte

I'll start, and then Inácio will chime in. Supply and demand are balanced not only now, but also looking forward.

Companies carry out their efficiency program, choices that they make, the impact of the supply and demand will have more or less relevance in the company. At MBRF, we are heavily focused on very important principles that prove to be very efficient: that is not to work with inventory without sales, to diversify our product portfolio, making the right choices, making investments whose return will take place in the short term.

It's important to say that we are highly innovative company, offering new products to consumers, products that are in line with their expectations, making good choices in our media advertising, like in the World Cup. The world saw and had a lot of visibility of our brand, irrespective of the performance of the Brazilian team.

We wished Brazil had advanced more in the World Cup, having better results, but our choice proved to be correct with the expected results in our media exposure. This perfect balance between supply and demand is unlikely to change in the short and in medium term with the new export licenses, the new destinations, and we will keep an eye on that.

As to your question on Sadia Halal, what we see in the market is prices went up at the beginning of the conflict and then they stabilized at an intermediate level. We see some price movement in the region as they are better supplied, obviously.

Prices come down slightly, but on the other hand, we see that in Q2 our volumes were below what they could have been, we can keep on growing volumes in that region. As the Jeddah CapEx comes in, we will improve the mix of processed items in the region.

Thinking about the medium to the long term, those 16% we delivered in Q2 might be difficult to maintain, but I'm absolutely certain that our new scenario is much better than the historical margins we had of about 10% in 2025. We are confident about the opportunities of the product mix, an improved performance of our processed items, and a partnership with Sadia Fresh in the region will structurally bring up the profitability level at Sadia Halal.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Another important aspect about Sadia Halal is that we must recognize that before the war broke out, we already had a price recovery period. Prices in the Middle East started going up in December of 2025, and they remained so throughout Q1, and they were maximized by the conflict.

Another important factor, and I apologize for repeating that, is that for a region where food security is so important, if you have a company and brands that during a conflict were able to deliver to thousands of customers the products they wanted and needed, you become very relevant. We guarantee our position.

We become their preference, and that translates into price and margin. In 2026, we started reaping the fruit of our investments in value-added products, products that meet the needs of a society that modernizes, of housewives that today work out and need convenience, our margins will most likely be maintained in the future, and we are working to that end.

We have an excellent commercial team. We work with solid brands, brands that are preferred among customers in the Middle East.

This was a decision made by our chairman to focus on that region. We have an extremely competent team executing that policy, and we are confident.

Lucas Mussi

Thank you, Miguel and Inácio.

Operator

Our next question comes from Thiago Bortoluci from Goldman Sachs. Over to you.

Thiago Bortoluci

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Miguel, Inácio, Tim, congratulations on your results. I'd like to speak about execution.

Cycles come and go, and you may be prepared or not to make the most of it, but execution is what the company can control in the short, medium, and long term. Within execution, there are three levels that we don't discuss much in our earnings calls, but this is something that has been delivered consistently at BRF and now at MBRF.

What are the extra opportunities moving forward? First is SG&A.

In this quarter, we saw that trend. Gross margin fell year-on-year, but the EBITDA margin went up, and that has to do with efficiencies and synergies.

If we could go back to that efficiency and synergy capture for the year, how optimistic you are to obtain even more gains in those areas, and what else can be done? That's point number one.

Point number two, perhaps that's more to Inácio, tax advantages. I'd like to understand the monetization of tax credits with the merger.

Point number three, portfolio efficiency. Miguel, you have mentioned consistently the opening of new markets and the non-reliance on a single export market.

I like the fact that you repeat that MBRF sells products after they are sold and not the other way around. How your efforts on portfolio diversification help mitigate the China and the Euro risks?

I'm sorry for the long questions.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

Good morning, Thiago. I'll answer the first question, and then Inácio will jump in.

We follow our efficiency plans, our SJ plans, and we announced a synergy plan of 1 billion 630 million what would be getting in 2026, it's perfectly on track. We're going to deliver on that plan.

At this point in time, we're perfectly in line with our expectations back then. That's our intention.

We are executing it, in other words. Let me point that out that this was a policy we draw up that would validate the merger strategy, and we had a limitation for both companies when they were working in parallel.

They could only pull off better results once they merged, and it's happening as we speak. We keep on working.

We're doing very well in that sense. I'm not saying because I'm optimistic, we're just following through that strategic plan.

As to operational efficiency, this has been the backbone of this company. Ever since the day Mr.

Marcos Molina took over, we have been working on the efficiency plan, not as BRF or as Marfrig, but rather as MBRF. The program that was called BRF+ is now MBRF+, and that change was not in the name only.

It changed the way we control the company, the KPIs we adopt, and the plans we draft together. This is a very special times.

After a merger, you run that risk of cultural differences or performance differences. Now, we are merging two companies that were with outstanding performance, a winning mindset involving simplicity, dedication, and we are combining two outstanding teams.

Once again, I would like to thank the hard work of these teams in the past four years. Starting in September 23rd, 2025, these two teams joined forces and are totally working together to make this company a better company.

It's going to happen in practical terms.

José Ignacio Scoseria

Good morning, Thiago. Let me address the question about tax synergies and monetization of tax credits.

Let me break that down into two areas. The first has to do with what you do when you incorporate companies, when you merge new companies.

We're now working to have that option available. We're working at the systems level so that we have the same system in both companies.

We're getting that ready. In practical terms, it helps you in the ITR.

You unlock the premium when you acquire a new company. We're making that ready to make the decision at the right time for the company.

That's for the mid-term. Now, for the short term, when you incorporate a new company, we can, of course, monetize a lot of tax credits.

The sales tax, for example, we're now able to monetize 130 million of sales tax. There are several initiatives in place in that sense, and we expect to pick that up in the coming months, initiatives such as the sale of credits.

Again, we are very optimistic about the sales tax optimization given the current structure. As far as industry tax, what we call the PIS and the COFINS taxes, we are hopeful we'll be able to get even better results in the second half of the year to provide better results as far as PIS and COFINS taxes are concerned.

We still have a lot of work to do.

Miguel de Souza Gularte

We're focusing on the sales tax and also have a mid-term plan, and we're doing everything we have to do to be prepared to get even better benefits. I've failed to answer part of your question.

In Europe, for example, the case of beef, Brazil is less than 1%. In poultry, is less than 0.5%, and China for cattle in Brazil is about 2.7% when compared to all.

In other words, the work we did to open up new markets and qualify plants puts us in this position. A relevant destination such as China, we can easily offset that very efficiently, as I said, redirecting that to the national platform in the US.

We don't have to keep inventory levels high, waiting the market to open up and wait for the new quota allocations that Brazil will implement in 2026 to wait for China to come back in 2027. We don't have to do all that.

We can keep on operating using the platforms in Brazil, Uruguay, or Argentina and redistribute that production to markets we've been opening up and also to the National Beef platform. It's very easy when you have a well-recognized platform such as that of National Beef.

The answer was just as long as your question, but that's a company that did its homework. In terms of enablement, we've been working synergy.

We kept our focus on simplicity and efficiency, and we are very confident by the choices we made in people and brands and products.

Thiago Bortoluci

That was very clear. Thank you, Miguel.

Thank you, Inácio.

Operator

That concludes BRF's or MBRF's Q&A session. This concludes the call.

Thank you, and have a great day.