Lactalis to close Australian milk factory | Progresiv
Lactalis Australia is closing its Rockhampton, Qld, milk factory in response to falling milk production in Queensland. The company announced the factory would close on February 28. 
The factory had not been processing at full capacity for a number of years and was only in operation three to four days per week with redirected milk supplies from south-east Queensland, the company said.
The company will be also scaling back production of yoghurt at its South Brisbane factory this year.
Milk production in Queensland has plummeted in recent years - down 14.7 per cent in the five months to November 30 alone.
The state recorded the biggest fall in production in 2018-19 at 10.2pc, almost double the national average.
Its 2018-19 production of 358 million litres comprised just 4.1pc of the nation's total.
Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation president Brian Tessmann said the closure was inevitable, given Queensland's declining milk production in the past decade.
Lactalis said it would continue to buy milk from its dairy farmers in the Rockhampton region and redirect it to Nambour and Brisbane.
Yogurt manufacture will transition to Lactalis factories in Victoria and Tasmania, which would reduce transportation requirements of milk between the states.
The company said the welfare of its 47 employees at Rockhampton was its top priority.
"We're very sorry to be ceasing our factory operation in the tight-knit Rockhampton community," the company said.
Lactalis products will still be sold via our local distributor and available in local stores. (www.farmonline.com.au)
