June 8, 2010
Australian abattoirs to process beef rejected by Indonesia
It has been suggested that around 20% of cattle in the Northern Territory of Australia alone will now have to be sold through abattoirs, because of weight restrictions put in place by the Indonesian government.
National meat processing company, Teys Brothers, said it can handle extra cattle that are currently not allowed into Indonesia.
CEO of Teys Brothers, Brad Teys, said although this could be seen as a win for abattoirs as direct competitors, he would like to see more stability, in the interests of the entire cattle industry.
"At the end of the day, the problem I see with the situation is we've got one market in live exports which is Indonesia," he said.
"The processing industry can compete if they're competing on a level playing field,'' Teys said. "There were meatworks all across northern Australia 30 and 40 years ago, and they really need to be there to provide an alternative."
And Australia's largest abattoir, Swift Australia, also said it will process any extra cattle that come into the domestic market.
Managing director of Swift Australia, John Berry, said the company will be very happy to have cattle that cannot be exported.
"We had an unfortunate situation where we had to drop around 267 people from the Townsville abattoir," he said. "It's certainly good news to know that there may be cattle available, and certainly we're there to process."
