Kilcoy

Other Names

Current Operation

• Currently operating as at December 2013.

Location   

• 120 km NW of Brisbane in Brisbane valley
  

Hema Maps – Australia Handy Map. 9th Edition

Owners

• Kilcoy Pastoral company¹
  • CEO – Tony Munns appointed 1999, succeeded by David Foote.¹
• Harmony Investment fund – Singapore based – Harmony Capital management³
  • Harmony purchased in 2007⁴
• Pacific Alliance Group (2012)³
• New Hope Investment Fund – Chinese⁴

Operation   

• Marketing strategy – Naturally Identified, Safe environment (NISE) Beef export program¹
• Dedicated grainfed, export focussed plant.³
• Capacity to process 285,000 head per year³
• Employed 750 staff (as at 2012)³

History

Year

1950’s

• First established by Kennedy Family⁴

1999

• Appointed new CEO – Tony Munns¹

2002

• Major improvements epected to provide 10% production boost and 50 full time jobs.²
• Currently employing 340 people (plus the extra 50 to add)²

2003

• Volume had increased through the plant by 35% to same period in previous year.²
• Further Funding provided by Federal Government – Dairy Regional Assistance Program $880,000²
  • Further enhance production capacity and improve efficiency²
  • Improve primary freezer capacity, improve ability to process by products and improve the standard and quality of effluent disposal²
• Previous 12 months had been difficult in world markets²
• Target Pacific Rim countries in particular Japan and Korea²

2007

• Harmony Capital Management’s Harmony Investment Fund⁴
• Throughput for 2007 was 54,000t carcase weight, 160,000 cattle.⁵
  Note by author (Jo Bloomfield) if average yield is 337.5kg, estimate live weight processing 52% dressed Is approximately processing animals live weight 650kg.

2009

• Australian Agriculture Co’s largest shareholder – IFFCo flag interest in purchasing abattoir⁵
  • Would be acquired by IFFCo under assigned put-and-call option – allows later transfer of ownership to AA Co⁵
  • IFFCo is large international red meat processor – killing 10,000 buffalo daily in India⁵
  • AA Co considering cost-benefit studies of owning meatworks as adjunct to branded beef business⁵
    • Currently utilises service kill at Grantham and occasionally at Casino⁵
• Kilcoy provides strong marketplace competition against larger players Swift and Teys grainfed cattle processing⁵
• Kilcoy is has current kill capacity 570 head a day, single shift, seven day operation⁵

2011

• Processed 250,000 head, emplyed 750 staff.³

2012

• Harmony Investment Fund – had owned a majority share of 80% sold to Pacific Alliance Group³

2013

• Chinese investment fund – New Hope Investment fund purchase facility⁴
  • Purchase price about $80M⁶
  • one of the biggest operators of feedlots in China⁴
• Kilcoy Abattoir is currently fourth largest abattoir in Australia⁴
• Is currently processing 265,000 grain fed cattle a year⁴

2015

• July. The following charts are from a submission by the Australian government Department of Agriculture to the Senate rural and regional affairs and transport references committee inquiry into Market consolidation and the red meat processing sector.
  • Dept Ag. Submission to Market consolidation and the red meat processing sector July 2015
• 

  Capacity of major beef abattoirs in QLD. Pg 15

  

  Share of throughput by state for beef in 2014. Pg 16

  

  Cattle Movements to abattoirs. Pg 25

  

  Hourly labour costs for food manufacturing industry Pg 30

 

Sources

1. ‘New Heads for Kilcoy, ACC abattoirs’ QLD Countrylife 13.10.1999
2. ‘Kilcoy abattoir upgrade’ QLD Countrylife 29.05.2003
3. ‘Harmony sells stake in Kilcoy, Harvey Beef’ Beef Central 06.12.2012
4. ‘Kilcoy abattoir sold to Chinese Investment Fund’ The Australian 06.12.2013
5. ‘IFFCo eyes Kilcoy abattoir in AAco deal’ Stockjournal 18.06.2009
6. ‘Stations now in hot demand’ Nth QLD Register 10.07.2014
7. Dept Ag. Submission to Market consolidation and the red meat processing sector July 2015