The foreign owner of two mothballed abattoirs has put both facilities up for sale and will exit WA after two years of radio silence about its future.
The foreign owner of two mothballed abattoirs has put both facilities up for sale and will exit Western Australia after two years of radio silence about its future.
Minerva Foods has listed the Great Eastern Abattoir in Tammin and Shark Lake Abattoir in Esperance with Colliers Perth, seeking expressions of interest until May 15.
The Tammin abattoir was closed in January last year and Shark Lake in 2023. On both occasions Minerva said it had done so to research investment needed in the facilities.
About 100 people were employed at the Tammin abattoir when it was operating, and 50 at Shark Lake.
The sale of both facilities would mark the Brazilian agribusiness giant’s departure from WA, five years after entering the market promising to grow processing capacity to as high as one million head of lamb per year.
Minerva’s jettisoning of its WA plans come two years after the quiet divestment of the company’s investment partner, Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, from its giant WA farm landholdings in late 2024.
Minerva and SALIC in 2021 said their $48 million joint-investment in abattoirs would create more than 150 jobs in Tammin and Esperance.
SALIC did not respond to questions about its exit at the time.
Business News has been pursuing Minerva for two years for answers about both abattoirs’ futures to no avail.
Minerva gave near identical brief written statements to workers at both abattoirs days prior to closing them.
Agencies, suppliers, buyers, staff and local councils were not informed until the last minute on both occasions.
The company has still not told the stock market in Brazil it has mothballed the two facilities.
Its public commentary makes mention of ownership of four abattoirs in Australia; not that two have ceased operations.
Open and closed
The sale of both facilities comes at an interesting time for the processing sector.
Abattoir capacity will be critical to ensuring the sheep industry can live on once the federal government’s live export ban comes into effect in 2028.
Currently, however, supply issues are causing all manner of issues at sheep processing lines across the state.
Kojonup-based Beaufort River Meats shut down in February, one day after the federal government handed it a $3.3 million grant.
Owner, Ausvision, said the closure was temporary due to a shortage of supply and that upgrades are progressing during the shutdown.
Borello Beef temporarily ceased sheep processing at its Gingin abattoir last year due to demand for beef. It is planning an expansion to accommodate both meats
Southern Brook Abattoir near Serpentine has been on and off the market since 2022.
Of greater mystery is the status of closed abattoirs near Bunbury, Geraldton, Waroona, and Cataby.
Western Meat Packers Group bought the Goodchilds Meatworks in Australian in 2022 and said it would reopen it in 2024.
The company has not responded to several requests for comment in the past year.
Al Qudsi Agrigroup’s abattoir inland from Geraldton appeared far from operable when Business News visited late last year.
The future of Central Agri Group’s Cataby abattoir and Indpac trading’s Waroona facility – both closed – are both shrouded in mystery as well.
On the flipside, the new Canadian owners of the Kimberley Meatworks near Derby are working to reopen the North West’s only major processor next year.
Craig Mostyn Group, Overland Group and WAMMCO are investing substantial sums of money to increase processing capacity at their facilities near Bunbury and Katanning.
A group of farmers on the south coast are working on a plan for a mixed-species contract kill-focused abattoir in Mount Barker.
The state government has funded studies into its viability.
Western Australian Meat Industry Authority this year granted a micro-abattoir licence to Belvedere Valley in the South West.
And another independent abattoir has been mooted in Manjimup.
