Falling lamb numbers was one reason for Silver Fern Farms'
decision yesterday to close the Canterbury lamb cutting
plant at Christchurch. Photo by Neal Wallace.
Many of the 135 meat workers who would lose their jobs
with the expected closure of Silver Fern Farms Canterbury lamb
cutting plant in Christchurch, worked only six weeks this
season.
A further 39 workers at the company's Belfast beef
slaughtering plant could also be out of a job, following the
restructuring of cold store operations and the centralising
of rendering and casings facilities at a new facility at
Washdyke, near Timaru, by the Dunedin company's joint venture
partner, Farmbrands.
New Zealand Meat Workers Union general secretary Dave
Eastlake was philosophical about the Canterbury plant losses,
saying indications for the plant's future were not good
during the season.
"Some of the people working at the cutting plant have only
had six week's work," he said.
Silver Fern Farms stopped slaughtering lambs at the
Canterbury works in 2008, turning it into a lamb cutting
plant to address a forecast imbalance between the forecast
kill and cutting capacity.
The decline in lamb numbers meant it has been under-utilised
and Mr Eastlake said given that decline, transporting
carcasses between plants for processing was not sustainable.
"Obviously, you cannot cart stuff to a plant for just a few
weeks of the year."
The move also highlights the industry's excess processing
capacity.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Keith Cooper said Meat and
Wool New Zealand forecast a lamb kill this season of 23.5
million, but the latest figures show that kill to be closer
to 21.5 million.
Last year it was 22.5 million.
At June 5, this season's lamb kill was back one million on
the same time last year, and the ewe kill 400,000, while for
the same period in the South Island 600,000 fewer lambs and
200,000 fewer ewes had been killed.
Mr Cooper said the industry needed to rationalise the number
of processing plants, and his company has already reduced
capacity by five sheep meat and venison chains, part of
rationalisation in 2008 which saw six business units close at
a cost of about 1000 jobs.
Over a similar period, Alliance Group has reopened a
sheepmeat plant in the North Island and Affco a plant in
Southland.
Mr Cooper said there was sufficient capacity among existing
meat works to process the total New Zealand sheepmeat kill in
26 weeks, but in reality, climatic conditions meant not all
lambs were ready for such a condensed killing period.
Mr Eastlake was equally concerned about over-capacity.
"I don't know how much lower it can go before another plant
has to close," he said.
In addition to lower livestock numbers, Mr Cooper said
Canterbury suffered from being a cutting plant which relied
on throughput from the company's other slaughter works to
provide it with work.
The company was moving to a model where it integrated
operations on one site, to maintain food hygiene and safety
and environmental standards.
Mr Cooper said Canterbury's cold storage facilities could be
used to consolidate export product from its Belfast, Fairton,
Hokitika and Islington plants.
Silver Fern Farms will start consultation with affected meat
workers and a final decision is expected on June 25.
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