May 6, 2011
 

Monbeef pulls through due to new products

 

 

Monbeef, an export meat plant, has decided to concentrate on the domestic market again by having new products to stay viable, and balancing the negative effects of the high dollar and costly cattle.

 

Many meat processors are struggling to keep staff fully employed, but in the south-east New South Wales town of Cooma, Monbeef has its 60 staff again working five days a week.
 

Livestock manager Tony Dorahy said the hot boning plant got equipment to switch to bulk mince meat production, for supermarkets and pie shops.

 

"We are doing more value-adding and focusing more on bulk domestic markets," he said.

 

"We still have our export markets to America and Japan and other places, but we are value-adding, as we make mince now.

 

"We would make 15 tonnes a week, from 1kg packages up to 5kg packages, and all of them go to the domestic market."

 

"It has been a bit hard for the good products we use. With good seasons throughout the eastern side of Australia, we were competing with restockers for grass people, buying the light conditioned cows, more than what we were with other processors," said Dorahy.

 

However, exports are still a focus.

 

"It was about export, and it is still about export, but due to the dollar, export was getting harder and we diversified into the domestic market since the start of spring last year."
 

He said the specialist mincing machinery creates a range of bulk minces for various markets that include supermarkets, bakeries and pie makers.

 

"We are still looking at different value adding as the dollar is going to take a long time to come down."

 

The Monbeef specialist hot boning plant at Cooma slaughters and cuts the animal in a hygienic process. Tony Dorahy said the plant is no longer unusual and is one of the handfuls in eastern Australia.