New Markets Needed for Stranded Australian Cattle
AUSTRALIA - Thousands of cattle left stranded by the financial collapse of exporting company Carpenter International will be sold on soon, according to reports from ABC Rural News.
8 April 2015
2 minute read
The West Australian livestock export company went into voluntary administration last week, and 11,000 cattle on the way to China were left with nowhere to go.
The dairy heifers came from Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, and most are now stranded near Horsham, in western Victoria.
Accountancy firm Grant Thornton is handling the administration.
Matthew Donnelly from the firm said: "We will be shortly moving to appoint a sales agent to help us realise the herd.
"We're also working diligently to determine the ownership of the cattle.
"Some of the cattle will be owned by the company, some of the cattle may be owned by the agents."
The administrators plan to sell 'a small amount of cattle' to raise money to fund the administration.
According to Mr Donnelly, between 3000 and 3500 of the stranded cattle will be sold for export and the remainder would go back into the domestic market.
He said that 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.
"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."
About 30 people attended the first creditors meeting, and the administrators will be holding a second meeting in the next month.
TheCattleSite News Desk
