RELATED: MG to close Rochester site
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A rival dairy company has expressed its interest in Murray Goulburn’s Rochester plant fated to close next year.
Australian Consolidated Milk general manager Peter Jones said his company was looking for a facility in the region and would welcome the chance to talk with Murray Goulburn about acquiring the site.
More than 100 employees will be jobless when the central Victorian processing plant shuts by mid-2018.
“(Tuesday’s) announcement is very fresh, but for our business, we've been looking at what assets we need to support our farmers and our milk supply volumes," Mr Jones said.
“We've been planning the next move, which would be an asset in the region.
“It would make sense for us to have discussions with MG.”
It was on the lookout for a new facility since selling its share in Shepparton dairy group Pactum for $50 million last December, Mr Jones said.
ACM expects its milk volumes will hit 300 million litres in the 2017-18 financial year.
But Murray Goulburn were remaining tight-lipped on Wednesday about the plant’s future, with a spokesperson saying: “Murray Goulburn is considering future options for the Rochester site.”
Rochester community leaders feared, however, another decommissioned facility languishing in regional Victoria foreshadowed the fate of their own factory.
A Murray Goulburn plant at Leitchville that closed in 2010 and left 80 people without work sat empty ever since.
A consortium last year expressed interest in purchasing the property, saying it could resume dairy manufacturing within months and even had the capacity to start meat processing work.
But that plan was quashed last October when Murray Goulburn denied talks of a sale.
Councillor Leigh Wilson yesterday described the Murray Goulburn factory as “the heart” of the Rochester township and said his community sacrificed a CBD street three decades ago its expansion.
Making the factory available for other companies to purchase would be way to repay workers and their town for years of service, Mr Wilson said.
Rochester Business Network president Glenda Nichol said her community was “in shock” and only when Murray Goulburn made the site available for purchase could some of the town’s “heartache” be remedied.
It was the only way to avoid leaving a "white elephant" in the centre of the town, Ms Nichol said.
"I'd like to see them sell the factory – even though they probably don't want to sell to a competitor," she said.