Mothball works, suggests Lange

Press, 25 January 1989, Page 8

Mothball works, suggests Lange

By

PATTRICK SMELLIE

• *’.*'-** Meat works could be mothballed for use when the industry picked up, the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said yesterday. The restructuring required in the industry was a “golden opportunity for common sense and for workers’ interests to be protected,” he said. “We know now we have gross over-capacity; we know that there are some freezing works which are staying open because they can’t afford to. close. “What we need to have is still a kill capacity so that when there is a degree of buoyancy come back into the industry, the plant will be there to

service it. “The much more reasonable way of dealing with it would be to have the mothballing of chains so that your infrastructure remains, and you can take up the capacity again,” he said. Mr Lange said the Government was particularly aware of the problems faced by Waitaki International, Ltd, which reported losses of more than $97 million in the last financial year. But Government action would not solely be a response to Waitaki, as other meat companies viewed the industry differently, he said.