Loss of business from Inghams when it built a new mill was a major factor in decision to close
Ridley Corp. Pty. Ltd. is closing its feed mill in Murray Bridge, Australia, one century after the facility first opened.
According to a report from the Murray Valley Standard, employees on September 25 were notified of the decision to close the mill, and “wherever possible,” would be offered employment at other Ridley sites.
Ridley CEO Quinton Hildebrand told the Standard the mill, which opened on September 30, 1919, had been losing about AU$1.5 million (US$930,000) annually.
The feed mill had been facing a decline in business after a major customer, poultry company Inghams, built its own feed mill in the area. The new Inghams feed mill was part of a AU$279 million (US$199 million) expansion, which also included the expansion of hatchery and breeder farm operations, as well as the addition or expansion of nine grow-out farms.
At the time, Inghams CEO Jim Leighton said its new mill is the first to offer fully automated facilities in production, and will increase the company’s feed production capacity to 11,000 metric tons per week.
With the loss of feed production for Inghams, Ridley moved operations at the Murray Bridge feed mill to just one shift, which resulted in 13 job losses there.
Farmers who have been delivering grain to Ridley’s Murray Bridge mill are being asked to begin sending their grain to the company’s feed mill in Wasleys.
