5 days ago
About 270 workers to lose jobs as SA's Seven Point Pork meat processor closes
Crisis talks are underway after South Australian meat processor JBS announced it would stop operating its Seven Point Pork (SPP) processing facility at Port Wakefield in early January next year.
About 270 jobs will be lost, including 160 belonging to people who live in the regional council area.
JBS pork division chief operating officer Edison Alvares said the decision came after a reduction of a significant number of pigs from one of the company's key strategic partners.
"Due to the significant number of pigs involved, and the unavailability of replacement pigs, the Port Wakefield facility is simply no longer viable as a pork processing facility in the short term," Mr Alvares said.
"We recognise the impact and concerns this decision has on our valued workforce, their families, and the local community.
"We will continue to work hard to explore business opportunities that may support the recommencement of operations at the Port Wakefield processing facility in the future."
JBS has said it would also meet any obligations it had to its workforce and its suppliers.
A Coles spokesperson said the company was shifting some pork processing to other states to reflect growing customer demand.
"South Australia will remain our biggest state supplier of pork — and we want to reassure the community that we are committed to delivering South Australian pork for South Australians," they said in a statement.
They said Coles would be expanding its partnership with Big River Pork in Murray Bridge from next year.
"We believe this evolution in our pork supply chain will deliver long-term benefits for customers, farmers, and the environment by creating a more streamlined and efficient pork supply chain, as we work to meet the growing demand across Australia," they said.
Federal Liberal member for Grey, Tom Venning, said it was "very disappointing" to hear 270 workers would lose their jobs in January.
He said it was also disappointing for suppliers who were already dealing with drought.
"It's rubbing salt into injury in a year which is very, very dry," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"For mixed farmers, the pigs are the only profit they're making so it's very disappointing."
Mr Venning said he had sought further clarification from Coles around the decision, but said that "reading between the lines it seems like production is moving from South Australia to Victoria to be closer to market" because the cost of doing business was higher in South Australia.
According to Seven Point Pork's website, the abattoir had a "long-standing relationship" with 20 farms around the country.
While pork production will continue at Murray Bridge plant, Big River Pork, Mr Venning said there would be less South Australian pork on the shelves in the long term as Victoria ramped up production.
As the major employer for Port Wakefield and the surrounding towns, Mr Venning said the abattoir's closure would have "huge ramifications" for the wider community.
Pork SA committee chair and Murray Bridge pig farmer, Greg Davis, said pork supplies were in such demand across Australia he did not expect producers affected by Seven Point Pork's closure would have too much trouble finding new markets.
"I don't think it will be too much of a problem," he said.
"We think we've got the capacity in South Australia to handle the processing of all the pigs that South Australia produces."
However, he said there would be additional freight costs for some producers.
"That's an added cost to those guys, unfortunately," he said.
"There's not much of an alternative, unfortunately..
"But we're very lucky, we're very fortunate in the pig industry this year that pork prices we're receiving are reflective of our costs.
"We're doing OK, but it is tough going.
"We'd love to see some rain … and we feel for our farming counterparts that are doing it tough at the moment."
