Bunbury

Current Operation

• Currently Accredited AUS-MEAT 14.01.13²
  • Establishment Number 0686

Location              

• 170km S Perth

Source – Hema Australia Map. 9th edition

Owner

• V & V Walsh Meat processor & Exporters⁴
• Vern & Jean Walsh established 1957, business now currently operated by Sons Peter & Greg Walsh⁷

Operation

• Cattle,Sheep  and lamb³
• Export accredited
• Medium sized¹ – says is a multi species ab???
• Is a preferred supplier to Woolworths¹
• Is a fully integrated plant but has limitations¹
• Considered as best alternative to assist to increase capacity for export if ‘Harvey’ fell over, has much smaller capacity than Harvey¹
• Can process 400 hd a day⁴. Doesn’t stipulate if means sheep or cattle.
• Beef & sheep products distributed throughout Australia, retail through Woolworths, speciality stores and restaurants⁷
• V & V Walsh supply markets to other countries, including China, Have an office in Bejing⁷
• Branded products – Amelia Park Lamb & Beef, distributed with partner company Trim & Tasty meats.⁷
• All beef and lamb slaughter is done so by accredited Muslim slaughtermen using Halal kill techinques⁷
• Abattoir itself employs 420 people, Woolworths expansion in 2011 employed further 70 staff, total Staff employed 650 people⁹
• Can slaughter 3500 head lamb/mutton a day, half is boned and packed on site⁷
• Have a shedded feedlot for lamb to guarantee supply⁷
• Can slaughter 400 head cattle a day, ability to bone and process 300 carcasses a day⁷
• Offal is trimmed and packed to customer specifications. Time from leaving the kill floor to freeze the offal to -10C, less than 48 hours.⁷

Source – http://www.insightps.com.au
Bunbury abattoir – Western Australia

History

 1957

• established by Vern & Jean Walsh⁷

2009-2011

• underwent significant expansion in abattoir processing area and ‘cold chain’ connections between the abattoir and the production and warehouse facilities⁵
• Expansion cost $31M – The Bunbury meat centre⁹
  
• Deboning room expansion included
  • construction of new export standard beef/sheep chiller facilities⁶
  • load out facility extensions⁶
  • new amenities for staff⁶

Source – http://www.insightsps.com.au.
Boning room facilities inside Bunbury abattoir

• Cold storage included
  • 32,000 carton capacity cold storage⁶
  • 2000 pellets of chilled meat⁹

Source – http://www.insightsps.com.au.
Chiller facilities inside Bunbury abattoir

2012

• Bunbury employer – CEO Peter Walsh. blames Bunbury’s staggering unemployment rate of 6.3%, (above WA state average of 3.8%, and Australia’s 5.1%) on widespread ‘slack’ attitude of local workers⁸
• Abattoir employs temporary foreign workers because locals are “not up to the task”⁸
• Foreign workers are not cheap but more reliable than Australians⁸
• One third of employee’s come from overseas using 457 visa, allow eligible workers to be employed for up to 4 years or a working holiday visa⁸
• Employing foreign workers involved constant retraining and rehiring of new staff⁸
• Continually advertised for new staff in last 5 years.

2014

• Signed a $1B deal with Chinese company Grand Farm¹⁰
  • Grand Farm are the largest red meat importer in China.¹⁰
    • Currently supply 1% of Chinese market¹⁰
    • Want to increase to 3%¹⁰
  • If average lamb consumption is increased in China by 1 kg require extra 65M lambs¹⁰
  • If average beef consumption is increased in China by 1kg require extra 6.5M cattle¹⁰
• Bunbury (Harvey Beef) is the only accredited exporter of WA beef to China¹¹
  • Currently 75% of Bunbury production is sold domestically¹¹
  • Expansion, within 5 years will double exports to about 50%¹¹
• Bunbury will process extra 500,000 lambs and 30,000 cattle to begin to supply Grand Farm¹⁰
  • Possible many grain producers will shift to livestock production.¹⁰
• V & V Walsh are assisting in setting up Cattle feedlot in inner Mongolia¹⁰

Sources

1. Parliament Hansard P. Omodei 17.08.05
2. AUS-MEAT Accreditation list 14.01.13
3. WAMIA Meat Processors 2013
4. ‘Northern Australian Beef Industry – Assessment of risks and opportunities’ ABARE 2012
5. www.insights.com.au, sourced 23.06.13
6. www.capitalhouse.com.au, sourced 23.06.13
7. www.halalexporter.com, sourced 23.06.13
8. ‘Bleak jobless outlook for Bunbury workforce’ Bunbury Mail. 11.06.12
9. ‘Bunbury meat centre extension opening’ www.woolworthslimited.com.au. 21.03.12
10. Billion dollar meat deal with Chinese importer. Beef Central. 17.06.2014
11. ‘We’ll have meat with that’ Nth QLD Register. 19.06.2014