DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2015
NEWS // 5
Abbott toasts Tassie with milk IF YOU’RE going to have one man in your
corner to promote your industry, it may as well be the Prime Minister. Tony Abbott was back in Tasmania last month, not long after eating a raw onion (skin and all), giving the onion industry more exposure in 24 hours than it had received in 24 months. So, invited to open the DairyTas conference dinner in Burnie, he was asked to toast the crowd with a glass of Tasmanian milk. We think he saw it coming. “I was thinking, at this time of the night, someone might have given me something a bit stronger - I am presuming there is a bit of rum in this,” Mr Abbott said. “But whatever is in there it will taste fantastic, because it is fresh,
it is natural and it is Tasmanian.” Mr Abbott spruiked the Government’s removal of the carbon tax as well as the Free
Trade Agreements signed under its watch. He also reminded the audience of the $60 million the Coalition had contributed to the State’s irrigation scheme, as well as extending the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme to exports. “Tasmania produces almost 10% of Australia’s dairy products, I know you have only got 3% of Australia’s people, so some of this dairy produce is going overseas,” he said. “Hopefully, in months and years to come, a lot more will go overseas, because you will be more competitive and you will have better markets.” It was a brief stop, and TasDairy sent the PM back to Canberra with a selection of the State’s finest cheeses.
JON CONDON
THE WESTERN Australian live export company
behind the failed live export deal to China, Carpenter International, went into voluntary administration after a Chinese cattle importer sought to sharply downgrade the price on a consignment of dairy cattle. Carpenter International had agreed to sell a consignment of Holstein dairy heifers to Chinese importer, Be Green Import Export Co, but Beef Central understands Beijing-based Be Green sought to renegotiate the original contracted price from about US$3000 each to about US$2100. Beef Central understands Carpenter paid about A$1850 for the dairy heifers, around 220kg in weight. Carpenter International went into voluntary administration on March 24. WA accountancy firm, Grant Thornton, was appointed to manage the business’s affairs. A meeting of creditors was held in Melbourne on April 7 (see story above). Carpenter International has operated in the live export industry for the past two years. It is owned by Carpenter Beef Pty Ltd, which is ultimately owned by Mowbray Ltd, a company registered in Malaysia. It is understood that awareness about Carpenter’s financial difficulties emerged when the company could not pay for the cattle, and the shipping vessel was cancelled after payment was withheld. Difficulties started to emerge in Australia’s China dairy heifer trade about October or November last year, when importers displayed a reluctance to put up letters of credit. The market has since gone “very quiet”, live export trade sources said. “It’s virtually pulled up,” a source said. “There’s a couple of shipments in quarantine now, one of which is Carpenters, and the other a small shipment from Austrex.” This article was first published at www.beefcentral. com and has been reprinted with permission.
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Mr Donnelly told ABC Radio any sale would yield less money than the original export deal. “It certainly will be less, firstly, because Carpenter did get a very good price for them pursuant to its original contract,” he said. “Secondly, this company Carpenter International now doesn’t have the capacity to source an alternative customer or provide shipping. “So it would be on-selling the cattle in the feedlot to an exporter who could do that. “That means we’d get a poorer price than if we were able to land them in China ourselves.”
OV E
will be owned by the Matthew Donnelly facilitating agency. company, some of the of GTA told ABC Radio A committee of cattle may be owned by between 3000 and 3500 creditors was also the agents,” he said. cattle were suitable for established during the “Most owners are the export market while meeting. agents rather than the rest would be sold Some of the cattle into the domestic market. farmers. The majority were owned by the of agents have company and paid the farmers, some were owned These cattle on by the agents. agistment are expected there are some farmers that At the time to be sold into the sold direct of their domestic market. to Carpenter appointment, International there were 6900 who are affected, but 90% They will also sell a Friesian and Angus of the herd are covered by heifers held in quarantine small amount of cattle agents. into the domestic at the Gerang Gerung “If the title in the market to create funds Feedlot, in Victoria’s cattle has passed to Wimmera, and 4100 head for the purposes of the company, then the administration. on agistment mainly in agent will be an ordinary He said the company Western Victoria. creditor and share in was currently working to These cattle on whatever outcome agistment are expected to establish the ownership ordinary creditors be sold into the domestic of the cattle. receive.” “Some of the cattle market.
U NIQ U
Services has been appointed to sell the 11,000 heifers stranded in Australia after a live export deal to China failed. DLS was appointed by Grant Thornton Australia (GTA), which was appointed administrator after the export company, Carpenter International, went into receivership owing an estimated $20 million to creditors. DLS, Charles Stewart, Alex Scott and Wellington Livestock, were among the 30 creditors that attended the creditors’ meeting in Melbourne where DLS was chosen as the
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DAIRY LIVESTOCK
Price change caused exporter’s demise
AB
DLS to sell 11,000 stranded cattle
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