Talleys plan expansion in the south

Talley's was planning to double the capacity of the South Pacific Meats processing plant at Awarua, Local Government Minister Rodney Hide said. In a speech to local government mayors, councillors and chief executives in Napier this week, Mr Hide said Talley's was about to begin design work on doubling the capacity of the plant. However, when asked for comment this week, Talley's said it was not ready to make a detailed announcement of its plans. In emails to The Southland Times, Talley's Fisheries director Andrew Talley confirmed plans were afoot to increase the South Pacific Meat plant's capacity. The company was expected to make an announcement after final plans became concrete in the next few months. Mr Talley praised the Invercargill City Council, saying there was no better example of a proactive council encouraging business."Again, motivated by the can-do approach in Southland, plans are afoot to increase the SPM capacity which will progress shortly. Good for all." A spokesman for rival meat company Silver Fern Farms, which was reducing the size of its plants, said he didn't know anything about the South Pacific Meats expansion, but said it was perhaps substantiated by the ongoing increase in lamb prices and strength in the lamb market. Alliance chief executive Grant Cuff said he also had not heard of Talley's expansion plans and was not prepared to comment on speculation. Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson was also unaware of the plans. "The history of the meat industry is littered with the corpses of failed meat companies. I have huge respect for anyone who is willing to inject more capacity into the meat industry after many years of seeing capacity taken out. They must have a very good reason," he said.