Abattoirs answer market call

The Central West will soon gain another meatworks with the Young abattoir set to open later in the year, according to Young Shire Council general manager Peter Vlatko.

The Young works shut in 2010 but if all goes to plan, meat wholesalers B.E. Campbell will look to start production in September or October, Mr Vlatko said.

“It’s a slow process because they’re making sure that what they build is exactly correct,” he said.

“It reopens something that we had before but we understand that it’s going to be a completely modern, first-class abattoir, that will generate export opportunity and local employment.”

Mr Vlatko understood B.E. Campbell intended to process beef only when it reopened.

“Hopefully at a later date the piggery side of it might come on board as well,” he said.

“Our prediction would be that it starts off with 80 or 90 (jobs) and goes to more than 300. It will be a significant employer in this region.”

The Oberon works reopened in late February after closing in 2011.

Faruq Babury bought the site last year and said the abattoir processed 400 head a day for the domestic market. About 65 per cent went to Chinese butchers in Sydney, he said.

The demand for light goats with skin on was a niche market he had tapped into and he was preparing to apply for a tier one export licence to target the Middle East and Asian markets if successful, Mr Babury said.

The Oberon works could process goats, sheep, cattle and deer – and the daily kill would increase to as much as 1500 head if the licence was granted, he said.

“There’s a lot of local demand from farmers, particularly around Bathurst, who can bring a small lot of lambs to kill and we give them priority because we have a good relationship with the locals and we appreciate their support,” Mr Babury said.

“People who farm deer used to find it very difficult and very costly to send them all the way to Victoria but now we can kill them locally; they can shave 60 to 70 per cent from their overhead just to bring them to us.”

Deniliquin mayor Lindsay Renwick said the local abattoir bought last year by the Tasman Group would start construction soon.

“It’s in the pipeline – we’re still waiting on planning issues,” he said.

“It’s a very slow process – it doesn’t matter whether it’s an abattoir, a butcher shop, a lolly shop or a cheese factory, once you get to a certain level of finance it’s taken away from the local authorities and goes through to State planning.

“We’ve been assured construction will start once they have the tick of approval.”

Mildura on the Victorian border could have an abattoir re-open soon.

Mayor Glenn Milne was backing plans put forward by the owner of the now unused site Meatco Australia, but council was still waiting on approval from the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal.