Greetings,
It is hard to believe it is already April. This season has simply flown by, aided by the generous tailwind of enormous challenges which we have faced this season. A lack of livestock has really been the story for most of the 2025/26 season. While we have had enough supply in the West to cover our key clients, business hasn’t been easy. We have had to fight hard to keep product flowing and remain competitive in all we do.
The outbreak of the war in the Middle East was the last thing our industry — or, more accurately, the world — needed. Refraining from panic, within 24 hours we had curtailed all fresh and frozen orders to the Middle East. We had 5 or 6 containers on the water which we have had to bring back to Australia for re-processing, and on top of that had to find new homes for about 20% of our prime cuts going forward. I am incredibly proud of the teams’ efforts in achieving these outcomes in an incredibly uncertain and challenging time. Backing their efforts was the mountains of hard work and the many millions spent in developing world markets that provided the framework needed to ensure we can sell everything that we process — even with the current predicament in the Middle East.
At home, our company-wide projects remain on track for completion in 2026. I look forward to the new opportunities that will exist for the business once these are completed, but especially the new processing chain and VRT freezing system. These new capital works will ensure all shareholders can have confidence for many years ahead that their stock can be processed when required.
