Tammin abattoir closure another major warning sign of a West Australian industry ‘in decline’

The abrupt closure of another WA abattoir could have a devastating impact for its local community, and there are fears that the problem will only grow across the State as more processors re-evaluate their future amid rock-bottom confidence in the sheep industry. Minerva Foods shuttered its abattoir in Tammin — about 185km east of Perth — without notice on Monday, leaving Wheatbelt sheep producers and about 60 staff in limbo. The abattoir, in operation for three years, was the shire’s biggest employer by a “significant margin”. The Brazilian agribusiness giant has now in effect pulled out of WA, having shut its Shark Lake abattoir, near Esperance, in September 2023. Its Australian operations are now consolidated in Victoria. It comes on top of a tough few years for the processing industry, with high energy and labour costs, and a lack of appetite from investors, leading to numerous abattoirs being mothballed or languishing on the real estate market. Prominent market analyst Matt Dalgleish said the Albanese Government’s live sheep export ban was partially to blame, linking the Tammin closure to reduced lamb and sheep supply as farmers downsize their flocks. “We know the West Australian flock is in decline, all the numbers are pointing to that,” he told Countryman. “A lot of producers have made the decision to either scale back significantly or get out entirely, and that has repercussions through the supply chain.” “Some of the processors may be looking at that and getting quite concerned about where they’re going to secure their supply in the future,” he said. “The fact that they (Minerva) have decided to pull out suggests that they’ve seen the writing on the wall in terms of how the industry is in decline, and it’s in decline because the farmers have lost confidence.” Southernbrook Abattoir managing director Lachlan Chilwell agreed the industry was in decline, citing a chronic shortage of skilled labour as well as the shrinking flock. Mr Chilwell runs a small facility near Serpentine that processes lamb, deer and beef, employing six people. “It (the industry) is in decline because of a lack of skills; we’re losing a lot of value because we don’t have the skilled workers to process those animals into higher value products,” Mr Chilwell said. “If it keeps declining at the rate it has been, then in two years time it will be an issue because we will all of a sudden have over-capacity for sheep.” “Probably within a year you’d see a huge reduction, especially in the Merino flocks, they’d just completely disappear. They wouldn’t be viable,” he said. ‘A FICKLE INDUSTRY’ Eneabba sheep farmer Chris Patmore, president of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA livestock committee, said the closure was “disappointing but not surprising”. “The processing industry is a very fickle industry to be in at the best of times,” he said. “They had a good run over the last couple of years when there was an oversupply of stock, but now that the sheep numbers have dwindled dramatically in WA, from 12 or 14 million down to 8 or 9 million, all of a sudden the pressure has come back onto the processors.” WAFarmers president John Hassell, who regularly sold his sheep to the Tammin abattoir, was also “disappointed but not surprised”. “They (Minerva) probably made good money while people were dumping sheep because of the lack of certainty, but the reduced numbers is going to make it much more challenging for them,” he said. “It shows that the lack of confidence in the future has been completely misread by the Labor politicians who say ‘oh, we’ll just produce more’ (sheepmeat).” Mr Hassell said the Keep the Sheep campaign, fighting fiercely to overturn the live export ban, had warned of the flow-on impacts to regional communities. He called the Tammin closure an “unintended consequence” of the ban, one that would be “devastating” for the town and drive up transport costs for farmers. “For some people in the north-eastern Wheatbelt, the Tammin abattoir is moderately close, but the closure adds possibly 500km onto the distance they now have to cart sheep,” Mr Hassell said. “It’s no different to when Shark Lake shut, when everybody in Esperance had to turn around and send their sheep to Katanning … It just makes it harder to make a profitable enterprise out of sheep.” Minerva Foods Australia chief executive Jason McPhail announced the closure in a brief emailed statement on Monday. Copying the company’s Shark Lake announcement almost word-for-word, he said Minerva would “undertake a review of operations” at Tammin to “analyse what further investment is needed”. “Whilst this review is being conducted the Tammin site will not be operating,” Mr McPhail said. Tammin Shire president Charmaine Thomson said she knew nothing about plans to close the facility until Monday morning. “The Shire was of the view the facility was improving its facility for the long term,” Ms Thomson said. “The Shire is obviously concerned about the closure and the lack of information provided in the company’s statement.” ALBO ‘DOESN’T GIVE A RAT’S’ The WA Nationals have called on the State Government to intervene to keep the abattoir open, while Mr Hassell said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “needs to take responsibility”. But Mr Albanese — who has touted boosting onshore meat processing as a way to offset the live export ban — dismissed the idea when questioned by reporters in Perth on Thursday. Asked whether he had a plan to assist, the Prime Minister said: “Well it’s a processing facility, not a live export facility, and that’s a commercial decision.” Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud labelled Mr Albanese’s response “appalling”, saying it showed he “doesn’t give a rat’s”. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said the closure was “extremely disappointing” but did not answer questions from Countryman about whether the State Government would step in. She urged Minerva — which processed about 5000 sheep a week at Tammin, 90 per cent of which was exported to the Middle East — to “reconsider its decision”. “I’ve met with the company on several occasions since becoming Agriculture Minister and the company spoke positively about their Tammin operations, which is reflected in their processing numbers,” Ms Jarvis said. “In my discussions with the company, they indicated they were keen to expand their operations.” The WA Meat Industry Authority, which currently lists 25 licensed abattoirs, also called the news “disappointing” but said sheep and lamb processing throughput had seen “strong year-on-year growth” over the past two financial years. “Despite the future challenges associated with the recent closure of the Tammin abattoir, there continues to be positivity from the meat processing sector,” WAMIA chief executive I-Lyn Loo said. “Processors such as WAMMCO and Craig Mostyn Group have, in the past six to 12 months, completed or announced planned investment to expand infrastructure, signalling their confidence in the meat processing industry in WA.” Minerva Foods and its joint venture partner Saudi Agricultural Livestock and Investment Company bought the Shark Lake and Tammin abattoirs for a combined $48 million just four years ago. The Tammin closure comes after Dardanup Butchering Company announced an end to its bespoke slaughtering services last September, leaving South West gourmet meat providers in limbo. In February, Kimberley Meat Company — the only major abattoir in WA’s north — fell into administration after owner Yeeda Pastoral Company racked up $103 million in debt . Yeeda’s administrators then sold the Yeeda and Mt Jowlaenga pastoral stations, their cattle herd, and the KMC abattoir to Government-owned Alberta Investment Management Corporation for $55 million in August. The abattoir remains closed. Meanwhile, the Carnarvon Abattoir Complex has been on the market for four years without much interest. It had its export abattoir approval revoked in 2004 and has since been sitting unused after functioning as a goat and lamb processing facility.