WA’s only North West abattoir to stay closed in 2021, ownership change on cards

The North West’s only abattoir has been put on ice this year as high cattle prices continue to bite and its parent company develops a co-operative management structure for the $25m facility. Yeeda Pastoral Company’s former boss, prominent pastoralist Jack Burton, opened the Kimberley Meat Co in 2016, marking the end of a two-decade absence of an abattoir in the region. KMC, 100km east of Broome, usually closes at the end of each year for the wet season and reopens in late March, processing up to 50,000 head of cattle a year. It processes Yeeda’s own Brahman and Droughtmaster cattle, run across 1.2 million hectares in the Kimberley, along with cattle from other pastoralists, including a vast number from Gina Rinehart’s WA properties. But this year KMC will remain closed, with Yeeda chairman Mervyn Key citing low supply and the high price of cattle, which has almost doubled over the past 15 months amid strong demand from east coast pastoralists and farmers looking to rebuild their herds after years of drought. Yeeda said it would use the shutdown to upgrade the plant, and would reopen for the 2022 cattle season as an independent-operating entity owned by several members of the pastoral industry in Northern Australia. Mr Key said Yeeda would retain at least 20 per cent of the new entity’s ownership. He said Yeeda would retain the land and buildings, but would offer a 30 year lease over the abattoir. “We would look to give pastoralists their shares, in exchange for the supply of a certain amount of cattle each year,” he said. Perth corporate advisers Poynton Stavrianou has completed the feasibility study and will run the expression of interest campaign. Mr Key said a co-operative solution to beef processing would provide pastoralists with a safe, reliable and economic path to market. “The new structure enables KMC’s pastoralist shareholders to .... directly profit from a full value chain that is difficult to replicate, while at the same time benefiting from a safe and proven channel to market for their product,” he said. Mr Key said sharing the ownership of KMC would enable it to retain access for its own cattle to state-of-the-art facilities, while sharing ownership with its peers. “We have discussed this concept with various pastoralists in the north and have received enthusiastic support, giving us the confidence to expect to have the new KMC ownership structure concluded in the third quarter of this year,” Mr Key said. Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association chairman David Stoate said it was disappointing the KMC would not open in 2021 because it was an important part of the marketing options for pastoralists. “Fortunately there are still good prices available from other processors in the south this year,” he said. Mr Stoate, who owns Anna Plains station near Broome, said he could be interested in obtaining shares in the co-operative, depending on finer details. KMC, which can process about 1300 cattle a day, is the only beef processing facility of scale in northern WA – 2500km from other beef processing facilities in the State’s South West and 2000km from the closest processing facility in the Northern Territory. Separately, Mr Burton, who parted company with Yeeda in late 2019, will open his own small scale processing facility on his Kilto Station near Broome next month, tapping into the demand for premium local beef. Mr Burton’s new abattoir cost $1m to build and will have the capacity to process up to 30 cattle a day. Cattle would be sourced from its own Kilto Station, 50km from Broome. Mr Burton said his new facility would start operating within the month, initially processing just 40-50 cattle a week, growing with demand. “It’s intended as a low-volume, high-quality processor, providing meat for local restaurants and mining camps,” he said. The produce will be branded Kimberley Premium Beef, with a second tier meat branded Long Grass beef.