Meat companies oppose freezing industry study

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 2

Meat companies oppose freezing industry study

PA Wellington Meat companies have strongly rejected a proposal to shut 40 per cent of freezing works. The tradable killing rights scheme suggested in a $700,000 Australian consultants’ report as a way to lure inefficient plants out of business and cut processing costs was “extremely drastic” and "very disruptive socially,” said the Freezing Companies’ Association.

It was difficult to reconcile the proposed savings with the social upheaval and lost earnings that the quota system would mean, said the association in its submission to the Meat Industry Council, the group that commissioned the study.

The first detailed revelation of how any big meat industry group feels about

the report comes hot on the heels of comments by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, last week that the consultants had not found the cure to the industry's ills.

Many of the observations about the need to cut costs and boost productivity were neither original nor profound and had been recognised by companies years ago, the association said. The association opposed the key recommendation — the introduction of a tradable killing rights scheme — because the social cost did not warrant the financial gain. “While recognising the economic benefits of improved plant use, other options for achieving this should be evaluated before wholesale closings are undertaken,” it said.