February 10, 2010

More slaughterhouses close down in Australia

The rising Australian dollar and low stock supply after widespread drought has driven two more slaughterhouses to suspend work following other closures.

Closure of two plants by Leitch Pastoral Group, Killarney Abbatoir and Pittsworth Food Processors, comes right after closure by Burrangong Meat Processors.

The meat processing industry in Australia has been dealt blow after blow for the past 12 to 24 months, according to an analyst.

The Australian dollar is now at a historically high level, an economic slump in key markets of Japan and the US, tighter competition in the Korean beef market, and some widespread rain which is cutting the yarding.

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union federal secretary, Brian Crawford, said the controversial live export trade is a factor in the closures and processors are finding it difficult to compete with the live trade because they do not have the overhead that processors have.

The problem is unlikely to improve soon due to lower cattle availability and the US and Japan will need some time to recover sufficiently from the economic slump.