Meat on bones of Minerva’s WA abattoir joint venture plans with Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Company

A South American food giant planning to pump $50 million into developing a WA meat export business will kick-start its operations by the end of the year. Minerva Foods, as part of a joint venture with the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Company, is buying the Shark Lake abattoir at Esperance and Great Eastern Abattoir at Tammin, in the Wheatbelt. The sale is still subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval. Both sites, which were privately owned, have been mothballed since early 2020. Iain Mars, chief executive of Minerva Foods Asia, said substantial work to upgrade capacity and efficiency were planned for the two facilities to processing up to one million sheep and 40,000 cattle a year within five years. Previously chief executive of JBS Australia, Mr Mars rejoined Minerva in 2012 and last year moved to Australia from South America to build a local presence. If approved by the FIRB, Minerva would become the second South American entity after JBS to invest in Australian meat processing. Minerva has a trading operation in Australia, marketing meat from other processors to customers in the Middle East and Asia. Mr Mars said WA was chosen for processing because of SALIC’s presence. SALIC, which owns a 35 per cent stake in the jointventure, bought a 200,000ha portfolio of farmland, mostly in the eastern Wheatbelt, from prominent farmer John Nicoletti in 2019 and now operates locally under the Merredin Farms brand. Minerva has already started building its WA team, with three senior team members from Brisbane to arrive in Perth this week. An engineer and operations director will arrive from South America soon after. Mr Mars said Tammin was likely to start processing by November or December, with the existing facility to operate while upgrades and expansions were performed alongside. “We’re keen to get started, we want to show we are a serious player in the market, and show the market we are here for the long term,” he said. Mr Mars said the plan was to export meat throughout the world, leveraging off Minerva’s 10 global offices. He said Australian livestock was regarded highly across the globe and Minerva aimed to develop niche high quality products with a provenance story, to gain additional value. Mr Mars noted there was strong interest for Australian lamb coming from the UK, following free trade agreement negotiations between the two nations.