AN Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) decision not to oppose the $1.45 billion takeover of the of ham, bacon and smallgoods producer Primo Smallgoods by Brazilian company JBS has been described by Inverell-based senator John Williams as very disappointing.
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Senator Williams lodged a submission on behalf of concerned people in the livestock industry as part of the review process, and their common worry was that the takeover would lessen competition at the saleyards.
Senator Williams said the ACCC agreed there was some lessening of competition, but then claimed it was not a substantial lessening of competition.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said JBS would continue to be constrained in the cattle market by a number of alternative abattoirs and supermarket chains. He said JBS’s abattoirs in Queensland and Primo’s abattoir at Scone were more than 500km apart, that the ACCC was wary of the potential impact of further consolidation of abattoirs and would be monitoring the industry.
Senator Williams said the ACCC claim that Primo was not a strong competitive restraint on JBS because of the distance between the two was out of touch with reality.
“Cattle can, and are, transported many hundreds, even thousands of kilometres,” Senator Williams said.
“I find it confusing that on one hand the ACCC will not oppose this acquisition, yet in the next breath says it is wary of the potential impact of the further consolidation of abattoirs.
“If that is true, why didn’t it act in this instance?”
“From talking with farmers and those in the livestock selling industry, I know this decision will be met with dismay, and only time will tell whether it is right.”
