Current Operation
- Aus Meat Accreditation registration dated 29/12/2015 #235 – JBS Australia Pty Ltd (Dinmore).13
- registered as a Beef, Offal export facility.13
- Direct employment enquiries to www.jbssa.com.au
Location
- South east QLD
- 40 km west of Brisbane. 9km east of Ipswich
Owner
- AMH (1999)4
JBS Australia
Operation
- Export – Beef, Offal1
- (1999) Nominal capacity 625,000hd per 50 weeks4
- Slaughtering, boning, packaging, by-products rendering and hide processing
- Spent 10’s Millions $ over past 10 years on environmental/sustainability projects, in areas like water treatment, establishing excellent performance creditials in the environmental area2
- “Site operates with arguably the most stringent environmental license conditions on waste water management, motor and other noise abatement of any meat plant in Australia”2.
Source 2007 Feedback MLA
Other historical and current meat processing facilities located in Australia can be viewed at;
Australian abattoirs inactive map
History of Dinmore #235
1990
- ABARES report – Foreign Investment and Australian Agriculture
Proportion of cattle slaughtered by ownership of abattoirs 1990
Source ABARES foreign ownership 2011 Pg 31
1991
- 77 Beef export Abattoirs are in operation in Australia at this time.19
- 27 have some level of foreign ownership.19
- Ownership dominated by Japan, UK and the US.19
1996
- AMH intend to spend $50M upgrading Dinmore as part of $90M capital investment program across six Australian operations6
- AMH controlled by big US rural commodities trader – ConAgra, a major exporter from North America6
- AMH accounts for 16.5% of Australia’s beef kill.6
- currently owns another 8 facilities but will be consolidating to 5 and closing Beaudesert (QLD), Guyra and Portland (Vic)7
- others owned Dinmore, Townsville, Rockhampton and Aberdeen6
- Author note – not sure of 8th.
- Intended that 300 jobs would be replaced at Dinmore when expansion completed there6
1999
- AMH owned at this point4
- Is the largest plant in QLD at this point.
2005
- Significant regions of drought across QLD.
Queensland drought situation 2003 – 2005 www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au
Queensland drought situation 2007 – 2009 www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au
2010
- Will drop from 11 to 9 shifts over a 5 day week this year in light of the livestock supply and demand challenges3
- Between Townsville and Dinmore plant 430 people laid off.8
- Dinmore current operating capacity 3,300 head a day.10
- Mainly to Export 75% – Japan, US, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.10
- Dinmore employs approximately 2,000 workers.10
- About 1,700 work in production roles across 2 shifts Monday to Friday.10
- The remainder are cleaning, maintenance and head office functions.10
- Most Employees are male 70% employed and full-time casuals.10
- Around 20% are from overseas – 457 Visa’s China and Brazil.10
- 5 year EBA is currently in place, no piecework incentives provided.10
- most workers said to be be union members.10
- walking delegate employed on site.10
- Company has strong internal promotion culture aimed at increasing retention.10
Major Companies in the Australian Red meat processing industry
Source IBIS world June 2010
2011
- January. Devastating floods across Central and southern QLD and large parts of NSW and Victoria.21
- affected slaughter numbers to abattoirs.21
- July.National slaughter rates decline 5%.22
- Australian currency pressures.22
- A$ is now above US108c.22
- economic news out of US could send currency even higher.22
- higher A$ would cripple Australia’s already limited price competitiveness for beef in international markets.22
- QLD which does approximately half of Australia’s processing capacity.22
- Down 8% from the previous week.22
- lowest kill recorded in QLD in July for past decade.22
- Down 21% on same period last year.22
- Significant number of QLD plants only killing 3-4 days.22
- listless export beef demand.22
- Meat processing and export is low-margin business due to.22
- Import duties.22
- Indonesia 9%.22
- Korea 40%.22
- Japan 38%.22
- New AQIS charges on meat inspection would add millions to processor costs.22
- Is currently a big build up of meat in cold stores due to difficulty in selling into sluggish markets, Japan and the US.22
Red Meat throughput Australian abattoirs, Foreign and Australian owned 2011 Source ABARES foreign ownership 2011 Pg 29
2012
- Govt. grant $4.4M with JBS own $4.4M upgrade its waste water treatment system, installing new pre-treatment equipment and covered anaerobic lagoon technology2.
- Company’s carbon tax liability was expected to cost $3.5M yr,($23/t) project will save $1M in energy costs and cut liability each year by $790,000.
- Still doesn’t place Dinmore plant below 25,000t threshold, to get below that would cost a further $16M.
2013
- “JBS is in the process of supporting the transition of it’s 457 workforce to permanent residency”5
- 457’s residency requires certain level of english speaking, International English language testing system level 5. – often above the level meat workers most parts of world can reach5
- Recently completed a $50M upgrade employing most modern techonology available to ensure maximum efficency and consistency of the quality of the product9
- Employees 235 people9
- Daily processing 3,350 beef or 1,675 head per shift9
- November. JBS Swift Australia install closed-circuit television camera’s (CCTV) in it’s Australian meatworks.16
- For the purpose of animal welfare and meatworker safety issues.16
- CCTV for internal use by only JBS, with no plans to allow outsiders to view the footage.16
- JBS’s US beef division (which includes Australia) delivered drop in net sales and earnings in it’s third quarter financial results.17
- Australia’s division performance and overall contribution to the overall result is impossible to distinguish due to inclusion with US and Canadian beef processing results.17
- Earnings before tax $134M,.17
- Down by 22.5% on previous quarter.17
- Down by 28.4% on third quarter last year.17
- result reflection of domestic North American markets.17
- Improved performance had occured in Australian.17
- Demand had increased in Chinese markets.17
2014
- March. Cyclone Marcia cross the Capricornia Coast some plants were damaged.70
- Supply is exceeding capacity in QLD at this point.70
Impact of Cyclone Marcia February 2015. www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au
- June. Cost of processing in Australia 1.5-3 times the cost of processing animals in another country11
- cost of processing grain-fed cattle in Australia is twice of the USA11
- lower levels of productivity in Australia in regards to kg per unit of labour11
- 2 major differences between Australia and the USA11
- Government regulation
- $10 a head more in Australia11
- Dept. of Australian Agriculture fully recover costs of meat export inspection and certification11
- Australia wide DAFF costs $80M11
- JBS contribute $14.5M11
- Export plants don’t use DAFF but use approved employees, which plants fully cover costs11
- JBS estimate an additional $30M at Export level11
- USA & Brazil governments provide services at no or minimal costs to processors11
- Energy Costs
- $15 a head more in Australia11
- Technical barriers to trade (TBT’s)- Total value in Australia estimated at $1.25B as identified costs11
- 261 TBT’s in 40 key markets11
- 136 have significant trade distortion impacts11
- 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.
-
Capacity of major beef abattoirs in QLD. Pg 15
Share of throughput by state for beef in 2014. Pg 16
Major Processing companies by market share May 2015. Pg 16
Cattle Movements to abattoirs. Pg 25
Hourly labour costs for food manufacturing industry Pg 30
October. 10 mayors from Southern QLD form a mayoral group to act as a united lobby group for their region.24
- represent 25% land area of QLD, quarter of QLD cattle and 75% of grain and crop production area24
- support the Oakey abattoir push for rail transport improvements.24
- $2M in State and Federal funding is required to fund new rails sidings.24
- Federal government feel that private investors should fund the improvements themselves.24
- will add to processor competition in the area.24
- Only 2 abattoirs are currently contracted to be supplied cattle on the Western line.24 JBS Dinmore (QLD) and Teys Beenleigh (QLD)
- Oakey is to be added, starting January 2016.24
- Contractually Oakey can recieve cattle but as they have no rail siding this is not physically possible.24
- AACo have animals processed at Eastern abattoirs as service kill.23
- See year 2013.23
- Gross processing costs had increased in the 6 months to September 2015.23
- $1.13 risen to $1.21/kg, 7% increase year on year HCW.23
- December. ATO publishes tax data for agribusiness corporates.12
- Data interpretation – Companies do not pay company tax on revenue (total income) they pay on profits after paying all expenses, including wages, capital replacement, supplier costs and other operating expenses.12
- Income tax information is for 2013/14.12
-
- JBS Holdco Australia Pty Ltd produced Total Income $4,040,948,610.12
- Taxable Income $419,882,525.12
- Tax Payable $44,809,334.12
QLD Drought Situation 2013 – 2015 www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au
Sources for Dinmore QLD. JBS
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Source – Hema Maps. Australia Truckies Atlas
Source – Hema maps. Australia Truckies atlas 
Source 2007 Feedback MLA
Source – Cairns Historical Society, 1952. Photo PO8210
Source – Hema Maps. Australia Truckies Atlas.
Source Cairns Regional Council. Dated 1950
Source – Cairns Historical society. 1963. PO4059
Source – Cairns Historical Society. c1970