Mr. Matthews made the announcement at the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, Top Table function in Timaru, where he was guest speaker.
“The new factory will be commissioned in stages initially bringing 35 new jobs to Timaru and a further 40 jobs to follow, as Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon expands its production and an added-value smoke house is also commissioned in three to four years time,” he says.
Geoff Matthews says the site in Sheffield Street, and builder Chris Broadhead of Chris Broadhead Building Ltd, were chosen after an extensive twelve-month search and planning process, in which Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon evaluated a large number of options.
“Geographically we looked at a triangle between Twizel, as far south as Oamaru, and as far north as Rangiora. In the end the economics of basing a plant in Timaru, coupled with a skilled stable workforce meant that it was the best option.”
Mr. Matthews says that Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon is in the middle of a $20 million dollar capital expansion and it was always part of the companyʼs business plan to become vertically integrated.
“We see the commissioning of our own factory as a critical component of becoming masters of our own destiny, and to obtaining the best possible price for our product overseas,” he says.
Mr. Matthews says that commissioning of the plant in New Zealand is also bringing jobs back onshore.
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| Plans for the new factory |
“Currently 80 percent of our export production has secondary processing in Indonesia. However, bringing jobs back onshore is not without its challenges,” he says.
“The challenge for us as a company is to up-skill our work force to meet and ideally exceed, the exacting standards that we currently obtain from our world-class processor, BMI, in Indonesia.”
“Commissioning the plant is therefore a vote of confidence in a New Zealand workforce.”
Geoff Matthews says that the plant will be export certified to the highest standards to be able to export to the key international markets of Australia, Asia, Europe and United States. The plant will also need to be certified to the Global Aquaculture Allianceʼs (GAA) Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) standards.
“Earlier this week we announced that the Mt. Cook Alpine Salmonʼs farming operation has become the first aquaculture facility in Australasia to be GAA BAP certified, so our plant will also need to complete this certification.”
Matthews says the new plant has been designed to process, at full capacity, 3,500 metric tonnes of harvested fish, and to be as flexible as possible to ensure the company can take advantage of changes in markets needs.
Geoff Matthews said the willingness of the council and business community to engage with Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon also assisted greatly in the final decision to built in Timaru. “The company was very honoured to win the Supreme Award at the South Canterbury Business Excellence Awards,” he said.
Mr. Matthews also praised the commitment to the project by both builder Chris Broadhead, and Michael Broadhead of Lines in Designs. “Chris and Michael have worked extremely hard to get this deal across the line, and has been able to provide us a fantastic design and build option.”
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