WAMMCO’s $50m upgrade plan bolstered by $12m State Government loan

WA’s biggest sheep abattoir has taken out a $12 million loan with the State Government to turbocharge a $50m capital works program flagged to boost processing capacity by 50 per cent.

The cash boost will help the WA Meat Marketing Co-operative at Katanning carry out significant upgrades — including building a second variable retention time freezer and creating a new sheep and lamb processing line.

The VRT freezer, expected to be turned on early next year, will boost the abattoir’s chilled and frozen capacity to be able to hold about 21/2 days worth — or 7500-8000 — of chilled and frozen meat.

But the new processing line is expected to be the biggest help to farmers in WA, who have called for a dramatic increase in investment in the State’s livestock processing sector ahead of the Albanese Government’s ban live on sheep exports by May 1, 2028.

WAMMCO chief executive Coll MacRury said construction had already started on the new processing line, which he hoped would be finished and in use by October or November this year — in time for WA’s flush of spring lambs.

Once complete, WAMMCO will be able to process an extra 500,000 head of sheep and lambs a year, taking its annual total to 1.5m.

The new processing line will create 120-140 jobs when it is first in use, leading to 200 new jobs in total when at full capacity.

“The upgrades are about boosting our capacity, and helping our farmer members,” Mr McRury said. “The new line in particular will give us a lot more capacity on a yearly basis.”

Mr MacRury was equally excited about the VRT freezer, a technology he said had been adopted in the dairy industry in New Zealand and was able to freeze or chill several different products with different times using a programmable computer.

“VRT freezers are more efficient, they freeze and chill so give us that flexibility... it is technology from the dairy industry that we adapted and adopted,” he said.

“It makes the process (of freezing and chilling meat) more efficient, and reduces costs... it is quite different to other technology on offer.”

The three-year loan has been issued through the State’s Co-operative Companies Loan Scheme, which WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said had provided more than $151m in loans since 2005. The scheme provides tax benefits that reduce the capital costs by around 30 per cent.

“Investing in local sheep processing facilities has never been more important to build capacity and assist industry to respond to the changing global landscape,” Ms Jarvis said.

“The Cook Government is supporting sheep producers to capitalise on international market opportunities by supporting WAMMCO to expand production.

“The co-operative’s Katanning plant is the largest employer in the Great Southern, with more than 300 staff. This increased processing capacity will provide a boost to the local economy and sheep industry as a whole.”

WAMMCO is WA’s biggest sheepmeat processing co-operative and owned by about 700 WA farmers.

It also owns and operates Southern Meats in Goulburn, NSW, with the two entities processing a combined 2.3 million head of sheep and lamb a year, exporting to 120 countries.

Mr MacRury said WAMMCO wanted to provide its farmer members with confidence.

“When there are dry conditions and farmers want more lambs killed, we can step forward and do that for them,” he said. “Especially with the uncertainty about the live shipping industry, we really need to have more capacity in WA.

“These upgrades will also be good for Katanning at a local level, it will provide significant new employment.”

It has been a busy year at WAMMCO, with Mr McRury said the abattoir was processing “good numbers” spread consistently throughout the year, processing about 27,000 head of sheep and lambs a week — which is at the historically high end of the scale. WAMMCO paid out a record $21.8m bonus to its members in late August, after booming processed meat sales.

The figure was more than double the 2023 bonus and equated to $1.20/kg for all qualifying lamb and 60c/kg for qualifying mutton.