FOR more than 12 months, northern Australia's only major abattoir was mothballed and pastoralists were trucking cattle thousands of kilometres across outback roads for processing.
Now, the Kimberley Meat Company (KMC) is breathing new life into the facility, with a $35 million expansion set to boost capacity by 60 per cent.
- Subscribers have access to download our free app today from the App Store or Google Play
The investment comes, after the northern-based abattoir - located about 100 kilometres from Broome - reopened its doors in April.
It was forced to close in 2021, amid record high cattle prices, supply shortages, seasonally low beef time prices in the United States and increased scrutiny of the live export industry.
As a result of the closure, the nearest processing opportunity for Kimberley pastoralists was more than 2000 kilometres away in the Northern Territory or southern WA.
Currently, the KMC facility is operating on a six day week kill and bone schedule and processing on average 250 head per day.
Growth up to 400 head per day has been projected, after the multi-million-dollar expansion project is completed.
KMC chief executive Michael Rapattoni said there was a strong outlook for the Australian beef sector and therefore huge potential to improve efficiency and scale-up operations.
Mr Rapattoni said the upgrades would better serve the company's vertically integrated model, so it could respond to increased global demand for lean Australian grassfed beef.
"With our recent accreditations and global market conditions, Australian beef is high in demand, particularly in countries like the United States and Asia, which are currently impacted by severe droughts," Mr Rapattoni said.
READ MORE CATTLE NEWS:
"Our improvement and expansion plans are designed to put us in a position to respond to global shortages and supply lean beef from the Kimberley region.
"At completion of the expansion and improvement projects, annual throughput is expected to double to process circa 70,000 head cattle."
Improvement plans are set to see expansion in all areas of the business from finishing and holding, processing improvements, cold storage and distribution.
The retail outlet in Broome could also be reopened.
Mr Rapattoni said with national processing numbers forecast to rise by 4.5 per cent in 2023, there were many benefits for northern pastoralists.
This included:
- An alternative to live export, particularly in shoulder periods when the boats cease operations over the wet season.
- Increased ability to service pastoralists in the event of movement restrictions.
- Processing low commercial value cattle with non compliant specifications for live export at minimal cost.
- Savings on increased transport and freight costs, as KMC will be in a position to acquire a larger percentage of cattle earmarked by Kimberley pastoralists for slaughter and;
- Animal welfare best practice with cattle no longer needing to be transported long distances.
There are currently 90 production staff at KMC, with various skillsets.
The company encourages a diverse workforce and highly values local employment.
Preliminary works and approvals have commenced - as too has extension to the facility's holding capacity.
This will be followed by physical works on a progressive basis.
KMC does not anticipate any processing interruptions to facilitate works at the abattoir.
