A supermarket chain has told customers it has no Beef in its stockrooms.
Key points:The supermarket chain’s chief executive said the beef supply chain was too fragmented to be fully self-sufficientA beef company has told ABC News it has been advised to cease beef productionThe Australian Government said it was working with the Australian beef supply company to establish a “sustainable” beef supply networkThe Australian supermarket chain Hankook has told its customers it no longer has beef in stockrooms due to a “complex” beef sector, which is too fragmented and self-reliant to be completely self-sustaining.
Key Points:A company called Hankook Ltd says its beef supply has been “advised to cease”The Hankook Group has told it it no more has beef stockrooms at the time of writingThe chain said it is working with a “senior management team” to establish an “sustainably sourced” beef industry in the Australian supply chain.
“It is too early to say whether we have the right infrastructure in place to enable Hankook to continue producing Australian beef,” the group’s chief executives told ABC Business Breakfast.
The group’s board said it had been advised by a senior management team to cease its beef production and has been in contact with a senior Australian supplier who was in a position to supply Hankook with products.
The board said Hankook was “committed to supporting Hankook’s sustainable growth through a combination of sourcing, marketing and support”.
It said the group had no beef produced in Australia and it was unsure whether it would be able to obtain it, but that it was “in the process of considering” the options available to it.
Hankook said it would seek advice from a “team of experts” and had not yet been given any indication by the Government of a possible supply pathway to meet demand.’
We’ve never done it’Hankooks operations were established in 1991 and the group now has more than 12,000 employees.
Chief executive Peter Koon said the chain’s beef supply system was too complex to be self-sufficing.
“The supply chain is a very complex thing and it has to be managed by people with a lot of expertise and a lot knowledge and that’s what we need,” he said.
“We’ve done it before, but I think the system is too complex and too complex for us to do it on our own.”
Hanko’s stockrooms have been used for processing beef, but the company said that its beef was being stored at a separate facility in Adelaide, in a facility leased from a local cattle breeder.
“Hankoo will continue to make sure that our cattle are safe and sound, and we will continue our commitment to supporting the local community,” Mr Koon told ABC Radio Adelaide.’
There’s been no communication’Hanks Chief Executive, Peter Koo, said Hankooks supply chain had been “re-established” following an investigation by the Australian Government.
“There is a lot more to it than that, and I think we’re doing our best to communicate with the suppliers to make certain that we’re supporting them and they’re supporting us,” he told ABC radio.
Hanks head of cattle Angus Smith said it “would be a bit naive” to assume Hankook could produce Australian beef.
“I think that we would be naïve to think that Hankook can produce the meat that they’re making,” he warned.
“They can produce a lot better quality beef and it’s the same quality that you’d find in the US.”
But that’s the reality of the business.
“If we’re looking at it from the perspective of the consumer and we’re concerned about the quality of the beef that’s going into our product, then we need to be looking at the beef in our supply chain.”
Mr Smith said Hanko had made a number of changes to its operations in the past year.
He said the company had spent $40 million in the last three years to upgrade its facilities.
“Some of the work has been done in the previous year or so, some of it in the interim period,” he added.
Hanson said Hankoo had been asked to “look at” sourcing beef from Australia’s domestic supply chain, and that Hanko was “looking at that”.
“We’re in a period where we’ve had the National Farmers’ Federation [NAF] say that the meat coming into our market from the domestic beef market needs to be sourced domestically,” he argued.
“So I think that is something that we need and it needs to happen now, and it will happen over the coming months.”
Hanson also criticised Hankook for not informing customers of its beef withdrawal.
“Obviously, I think they’ve been asked a couple of times to tell customers that there’s been a change in the supply chain,” he acknowledged.
“People have been told that Hankoo’s beef is not available for sale in Australia