Japanese export abattoirs | Australian Abattoirs

Located southwest NSW, built in the 1950’s, owned and operated by Japanese 1988 to 2003. Plant required significant capital upgrades which the owners were not prepared to do and it closed in 2003. Talk of reopening in 2013.

Other Names

Lachley meats

Current Operation

Unknown

Location

Forbes is located approximately 600km east of Sydney in central NSW, Abattoir located in the Lachlan valley.⁴

Hema Maps – Australia Truckies atlas.

Owner

Lachley Meats ( when closed 2003)¹
- Owned from 1988-2003⁴
- Japanese owned – The Hannan Corporation²
Tasman Group⁴
- Currently operates other abattoirs.⁴

Operation

export beef works²
Specialised in grainfed beef for Japanese and Korean Markets⁵
170ha site, that is 8km from the CWLX livestock selling centre¹⁴.

Source – ‘Abattoir industry in disastous state’ ABC Rural. 16.02.2010.
Forbes abattoir also known as Lachley meats.

History of Forbes #656.

1950’s

Built

1987

Liberalisation of Japanese beef markets meant reduced import quotas and reduced import tariffs over the next 3 years. (Pg 82)⁹

1988

Plant in operation at this point¹.
Lachley meats take over²
- Trading company Mitsubishi were important investors in Australian beef cattle lot feeding and were involved in ‘paddock to plate’ supply chain control. Mitsubishi invested in Lachley meats and Mid Coast Meats – Macksville NSW.(Pg 124)⁷
- Japanese firms invested in Australia feedlots and processing facilities especially in QLD, in order to supply the liberalised Japanese market, to ensure product quality and safety standards and to create a more secure supply chain for their parents in Japan (pg 123)⁷
- Cattle feedlots in Australia had increased in the 1960’s solely to supply the Japanese markets, when the 1974 (Oil Crisis) occured massive losses occured to Australian feedlotters and producers with little impact on the Japanese buyers as they had little equity in the investments. When trade was rebuilt Japanese importers had to invest in the feedlots to share some of the risk (Pg 81)⁹

1997

At this point Forbes abattoir is Aus-meat registered as an Export Beef, sheep facility¹¹
- Operator – Lachley meats (Forbes) P/L¹¹

2003

August. Abattoir closes.¹
170 permanent employees, plus another 70 part-time¹
- company committed to meet all workers entitlements¹
Another article cites 300 jobs were lost due to the Forbes abattoir closure
Forbes abattoir at one stage had employed up to 450 people¹⁴
- 4.5% of the then Forbes population¹⁴
Unlike Cities of Geelong and Illawarra when Ford factory and Bluescope steel closed, Forbes didn’t receive anywhere near the same level of government support¹⁴.
- Both cities had received about $25M together¹⁴.
Lachley closed operations rather than invest in capital in a plant that had a bad trading history since 1988¹
Japanese owned pulled the plug on further financial support.²
- citing high operating costs of an aged plant²
- shortage of labour²
- capital requirements needed to comply with by-products results since acquisition in 1988²
Hannon Corporation was the 2nd largest importer of beef into Japan³
- Owned a plant in Japan that could process up to 150,000 head a year³
Increased tariff on beef imports by Japan earlier had claimed it’s first Australian victim³
- Major factors are the economic situation in Japan³
- Situation in Australia and markets is exasperated by the drought³
All creditors and liabilities will be paid out in full²
Abattoir had closed and re-opened 3 times in the last 20 years.²
Local council willing to help to facilitate sale of plant as abattoir or conversion to some other type of factory⁶
- Money was available for industrial developement⁶
- Special abattoir displacement retraining fund to help retrain people through TAFE⁶
- Assist in reducing costs of worker’s compensation, public liability and insurances overall, “..because abattoirs pay right at the top of all those services and that is working against abatttoirs in general” Member for Lachlan Ian Armstrong.⁶
Closure of the abattoir would impact by taking a major premium buyer for cattle out of the market throughout the region.⁶
December. Abattoir sold to Tasman Group services.⁴
Tasman Group also operate Brooklyn (Vic) and Altona (Vic), Yarrawonga (NSW) Longford (Tas) and King Island (Tas)⁴
- Also feedlot Yambinya – Wakool⁴

2010

- Six red meat abattoirs in Central NSW have closed since 2003¹³
- Outlook for the sector looks bleak¹³
  - “It’s disastrous. There are too many processing abattoirs out there and not enough animals to slaughter” Neville Newton, Goulburn abattoir operator¹³
There are currently 29 red meat abattoirs in NSW, down 30% 10 years ago¹³

2011

May. Equipment from the Killarney #22Q. QLD abattoir is used to refurbish Forbes¹⁰
- Equipment is kept in storage and not actually installed but is included in sale deal offered September 2016¹⁴
Sale of facility is thought to have occurred about this time – Australian owner¹⁴.

2013

Abattoir to be re-opened, had be closed last decade.⁸
Will be over 12 months before improvements are carried out and plant in operation.⁸

2014

NSW Government is questioned if it will offer potential buyers of the Forbes abattoir financial assistance¹².
- Governments reply – Mr Ian Armstrong, Minister of Regional Development, Minister for the Illawarra and Minister for Small business answers that the NSW government would be willing to work with any potential buyer of Forbes abattoir¹²
- Grafton #157 NSW had received financial assistance in the past¹²

2016

September. Forbes abattoir attracted strong overseas investment enquiry – principally Chinese¹⁰
- With a view to re-opening as a beef processing plant¹⁰
- Half of the 10 or so interested parties in the purchase were overseas interests¹⁰
  - Looking to vertically integrate¹⁰
Some investors looking to demolish the plant entirely and build a brand new facility¹⁴
- One Korean interest is looking for an Australian shareholder partner¹⁴
Other facilities in Australia listed for sale at this time
- Coonabarabran #388. NSW

Source ‘Three meat processing plants hit the market…’ Beef Central 14.09.2016

Forbes abattoir

Three abattoirs are on at the market in Australia at this time¹⁴.
- Forbes #656 NSW
- Geraldton #104 WA
- Sarina. QLD
Equipment removed from the Killarney abattoir in 2011 kept in storage is included in the sale deal offered at this time¹⁴
Current owner of Forbes abattoir is thought to have owned the site for 4-5 years¹⁴.
Stockyards, ponds and office infrastructure are intact at this point in time¹⁴
October 6. Forbes abattoir site is auctioned¹⁴