JBS, Gas Affordability, and Mexico’s Supermarkets

Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.

Today’s charts:

1. Gas affordability in LatAm

2. How Brazilian meat giant JBS makes its money

3. Walmart’s presence in Mexico

We’ve also included our favorite insight from last week at the bottom.

Energy⚡

Driving turns out to be very expensive in Nicaragua. The average citizen has to spend more than 12% of daily wages to buy one liter of gas.

In the US, gas prices can cost a president’s approval rate to drop. In Latin America, the consequences are more severe. For example, in Venezuela in the 1980s, riots resulted in more than 1,000 deaths amid government attempts to raise prices. This year, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico citizens have gone out to the streets to protest rising prices.

The truth is that there’s little that most administrations can do to battle market forces. A barrel of oil costs 40% more today than it did at the beginning of the year. There are some exceptions like Bolivia, which can freeze prices and keep gasoline affordable for its citizens through state-owned oil companies. Bolivian gas has stayed frozen at about $0.55 per liter since 2013 (world average currently sits at $1.23).

Meat Industry 🐖

JBS is a Brazilian company and the largest meat processing company globally. It processes beef, chicken, and pork and sells meat by-products. JBS has a significant presence in all industry segments, including producing, packaging, and marketing for the retail and foodservice sectors.

As a global firm, JBS sells to customers in more than 100 countries and six continents. The company has expanded through acquisitions and partnerships with other foodservice providers worldwide, including Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (United States), Moy Park (UK), and many more.

JBS is also one of the largest employers in Brazil. It has over 200,000 employees worldwide and over 300 production units in more than 150 countries. According to Food Processing’s 46th annual Top 100 list, it’s now the 4th most valuable food company in the world after PepsiCo, Tyson, and Nestle.

Groceries 🛒

Walmart’s first store outside the United States opened in Mexico in 1991 - a Sam’s Club in Mexico City. Today, Walmart has grown to be the largest retailer in Mexico, offering customers a wide selection of national and international products.

With 2,703 stores in Mexico under different name brands, Walmart owns more supermarkets than all other chains combined. According to a company report, Walmart Mexico and its subsidiaries employ over 230,000 associates and sell daily to more than 6 million customers.

In 2021, Walmart Mexico turned 30 years old and currently operates Walmart hypermarkets, Bodega Aurrera discount stores, Superama supermarkets, Walmart Express supermarkets, and Sam’s Clubs. Walmart Mexico is also publicly-traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange as Walmex.

Thanks for reading. Until next week. 👋

Want more?

Here is the comment of the week, the most upvoted in response to our Cuban doctors’ chart on Reddit (4.5k upvotes!). It links to this Wikipedia entry:

Join the discussion on social media, where we’ll be posting today’s charts throughout the week. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.