Brazil beef group JBS cuts more than 700 jobs

SAO PAULO, July 14 (Reuters) - Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's largest beef processor, said on Tuesday it had laid off 742 workers from three plants located in Sao Paulo state.

The layoffs are part of "a continuous drive for efficiency and factory modernization," the company said in an e-mail, denying they were due to falling export demand or closing of facilities.

Brazil's beef sector, which had been expanding fast with cheap credit in recent years, was hit hard by the global financial crisis as well as a decline in imports by clients in Europe and Asia.

Several companies filed for bankruptcy protection late in 2008, but the overall situation seems to be improving as liquidity in global credit markets recovers.

JBS said last week it had expanded its slaughtering and deboning capacity in Brazil by around 25 percent by leasing five more plants, all in Mato Grosso state. The firm is planning to hire 3,000 workers for these plants. [ID:nN0651342]

JBS has embarked on an international buying spree in recent years, which won it control of rivals in Argentina, Australia and the United States, including U.S. food processors Swift and Smithfield (SFD.N).

Brazil is the world's largest beef exporter and also has the biggest cattle herd, numbering some 200 million.

(Reporting by Inae Riveras and Roberto Samora; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)