What Thomas Foods International abattoir fire means for meat prices
THE huge blaze at one of Australia’s largest abattoirs in Murray Bridge has devastated the company, but what effect will it have on meat prices?
- How it happened: Blaze could have been so much worse, says MFS
- Huge fire devastates Murray Bridge abattoir
- Gallery: Images of the massive blaze
THOMAS Foods International will be able to overcome a devastating blaze at its flagship Murray Bridge plant by using interstate abattoirs to fufil its overseas export orders, industry leaders say.
And while it’s very early, there are no indications the fire will have any effect on the price of meat.
The suppliers of beef, lamb and goat to the processing plant were also expected to be well-protected during the hardship, which has left the future of 1400 workers in limbo.
Thomas Foods — one of the nation’s largest meatworks — suffered millions of dollars of damage after a fire broke out in processing and boning rooms on Wednesday night.
The facility predominantly slaughtered animals for the international market and was capable of processing 120,000 lambs and sheep, and 5000 cattle per week
Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Tim Hutchinson told The Advertiser their main concerns were for the Thomas family and workers.
“In regards to meat-market pricing, it will have no effect and our view is TFI will make the necessary arrangements to find alternative capacity to continue processing the amounts of livestock they need to satisfy customers,” Mr Hutchinson said.
“As far as impact on local domestic market in Adelaide, one would think the only silver lining is the time of year it’s happened when normal production is quite low.
“No doubt they’ll be making necessary arrangements to ensure impact will be minimal.”
The fire, which had plumes of smoke visible from 50km away, comes only two months after TFI resumed exports to China after its government ended a red-meat ban.
The company exports to more than 80 international companies and major domestic food outlets, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, McDonalds, IGA and Drake Supermarkets.
Thomas Foods is Australia’s largest family-owned food processing company and one of the state’s most successful businesses with annual revenue of more than $1 billion.
It has other facilities in Lobethal, SA, and Tamworth in New South Wales.
Livestock SA chief executive Andrew Curtis said there would be devastating ramifications for the region and meat industry, but it was too early to say to what extent.
“It’s a huge ramification for a whole range of people, not only the people who work there but all the services that support the plant will be disrupted and from a livestock point of view, there will be transporters and agents,” Mr Curtis said.
“There’s going to be a lot of disruption.
“The key thing is to support Thomas Foods, who will have market orders they need to fill.
“Thomas Foods have other plants in the eastern states, they will be able to respond internally.”
South Australia has other meatworks at Bordertown, Naracoorte and Two Wells, which slaughter a mix of small and large animals.
Mr Curtis said all work would be done to minimise the impact on the domestic market.
“I would suggest the industry will work closely with the company to ensure that beyond the weekend’s barbecue that consumers won’t be badly impacted,” he said.
“We have a track record of being able to recover from things like this.”