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Abattoirs face lean pickings
15 February 2010
SOARING sheep prices and booming live cattle exports are putting pressure on meat processors, contributing to the closure of several abattoirs and the loss of hundreds of blue-collar jobs.
The industry is also struggling with the high Australian dollar and growing competition from US beef in key export markets, as well as tight sheep and cattle supplies as farmers rebuild herds after the drought, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Three abattoirs have closed in recent weeks with the loss of 310 jobs from the Burrangong Meat Processors in Young in NSW and of 230 jobs from two abattoirs run by the Leitch Pastoral Group on Queensland's Darling Downs.
Swift Australia, a division of the world's largest meat company, the Brazil-based JBS, has cut back the operation of its Townsville plant from seven days a week to five, resulting in the loss of 270 jobs.