Meat works most at risk after Shortland

Press, 26 July 1986, Page 3

Meat works most at risk after Shortland

PA Wellington Meat works in the central North Island and the Otago-Southland region are most at risk of closing in the wake of the Shortland plant shutdown, according to Industry sources. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, said he expected more closings would come as freezing companies completed internal reviews before the next killing season.

He said rationalisation in the industry was necessary because of overcapacity of freezing works made worse by falling stock levels.

His words were echoed by meat industry sources which said there were up to five regions of the country where freezing works had surplus capacity. The Meat Industry Association’s executive director, Mr Peter Blomfield, said the Shortland closing was inevitable, and the first of a number of restructuring moves in the industry. Closings were needed because of chronic and growing over-capacity of killing space, wage rates in excess of market returns and producers’ ability to pay, and productivity increases which had

not matched poor economic and marketing conditions.

A spokesman for Wattie Industries said total or partial closing of any lower North Island works in which Wattles have an interest could not be ruled out.

The extent of the national wave of rationalisation was revealed by Wattie Industries’ general manager for meat activities, Mr Barry Brill, who said he could not rule out the total or part closing of any of the lower North Island works Watties had an interest in.

Watties has big holdings in Waltakl International, Advanced Meat, and the Hawke’s -Bay Farmers’ Meat Company.

Mr Brill said a combined study of all the works had been going on for some weeks. There would be results —

and possible shutdown announcements— by September.

The . Auckland-based Freezing Workers’ Union president, Mr Frank Barnard, said the consultation with the union over the Shortland closing was not good enough.

The . Government needed to accept its social responsibilities and not just stand back as meat works closed, said the secretary of the West Coast (North Island) branch of the Meat Workers’ Union, Mr Ken Findlay yesterday.

He said the union was very concerned that the Government had given no clear answer to a call for a meat industry conference which was agreed to as part of the settlement of the long-running meat strike.