BRAZIL-JBS-SWIF NEED TO WATCH THEIR BACKS. CUTTING DOWN TALL POPPY’S IS A NATIONAL SPORT IN AUSRALIA.
AUSTRALIA’S consumer watchdog has been asked to investigate an alleged misuse of market power by a global meat giant in Tasmania.
Swift Australia, based in Queensland but part of the worldwide conglomerate JBS Swift & Company, is accused of squeezing out competitors and skewing markets for Tasmanian sheep skins and lambs.
Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz on Monday lodged a motion in the Senate calling on Swift to deal fairly with competitors.
"Already, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been asked to investigate whether Swift has breached s46 of the Trade Practices Act in its alleged unfair practices, which are pricing the Tasmanian hide company Cuthbertson Brothers out of the market," Senator Abetz said.
Swift Australia arrived in Tasmania in March last year, buying three Tasmanian abattoirs including the state’s only export-authorised plant at Longford.
Cuthbertson Brothers owner Doug Dickenson claims Swift has refused his buyers access to the Longford abattoir to assess sheep skins before offering tenders.
Senator Abetz said the ongoing viability of Cuthbertson Brothers and its workers relied on being able to continue to tender for skins on a fair and competitive basis.
Another firm, the Australian Lamb Company, claims Swift has forced it to send export lambs from Tasmania to Victoria for processing, adding $7 to the cost of each ALC beast.
ALC livestock manager Ben Verrall said his company had been slaughtering about 1,000 export lambs a week at Longford for 13 years until Swift ended the service in February.
"They own the only export-accredited abattoir for lambs in Tasmania," Mr Verrall said.
"We are very disappointed because ALC has had a big hand in developing the market for Tasmanian prime lambs and we’ve been blocked in the market.
"Now we are going to lose market share because we can’t be as competitive with the price because of the added $7 freight component. It’s really taking away competition for the farmers."
Swift Australia has declined to comment.
Cuthbertson Brothers’ Mr Dickenson says his buyers have taken to the back of a truck outside the Longford plant to spy on live sheep in outside yards to assess their skins.
Mr Dickenson also wants the tendering process investigated by the ACCC.
He alleges unfair practice, claiming Swift has been buying up the skins his business needs by consistently quoting marginally higher prices.
"We ran a test on 800 lambs, half sent to Devonport, half to Longford," he said.
"We bought the Devonport ones at $6.80, we priced the Longford ones at $3.20 - the same lambs - and Swift paid $3.25.
"We’ve gone from buying 80 per cent of the Swift production to almost nothing.
"They process about 80 per cent of the state’s lamb and sheep so we are just about out of business."
Cuthbertson Brothers has been submitting its tenders for skins at Longford to Swift before the offers of both companies were forwarded to Victoria-based processing company Knox International Trading Co.
There the skins were awarded to the highest tender.
Knox International also processes skins for Swift Australia.
Mr Verrall said ALC was not a small company, but compared with Swift it was a dot.
"But to Tasmanian farmers we are fairly significant because we can offer another price on their stock," Mr Verrall said.
JBS Swift & Company employs 40,000 people at meat processing plants on five continents and 13 different countries.
