JBS, the world's largest beef producer, said it was "ready to capitalise on" the global economic recovery as it reported its first profit in three quarters, helped by a revival in Brazilian consumption.

Joesley Mendoca Batista, the JBS chief executive, said the group was "well positioned to grow in a sustainable manner" amid a global recovery in both economic performance and demand for meat.

"International trade is picking up and protein consumption is returning to normalised levels," he said.

The comments, which contrast with a warning by US meat giant Tyson of continued "soft" demand for meat, came as JBS revealed earnings of R$172.7m (US$93.9m) for the April-to-June quarter compared with a loss of R$364m a year before.

Mixed US performance 

The improvement reflected both a reduction in its debt burden, as a strengthening a Brazilian real reduced the weight of borrowings denominated in foreign currencies, and improvements to operating profits, helped by last year's acquisition of Smithfield Foods' beef business.

In Brazil, revenues jumped by 19.3% to R$1.37bn, as the failure of many rivals helped it build market share by 2.7 percentage points to 17.6% in one quarter.

The group's US businesses, which Mr Batista is preparing for flotation, put in a mixed performance.

The beef division raised revenues by 10.0% to US$2.89bn, helped by better factory management and strong domestic sales, although underlying earnings dropped 21% to US$104.6m.

In pork, revenues slipped 10.7% to US$553.8m, hurt by lower sales prices and volumes. However, the sharp decline in hog prices helped underlying earnings rise by 24% to US$24.7m. 

JBS shares stood 4.3% higher at R$7.60 in afternoon trade in Sao Paolo.