Job losses announced this week at a Taranaki firm reflect the pain rural businesses are feeling, along with farmers.
The downturn in dairy payouts blamed for job losses at a South Taranaki manufacturing firm this week is causing pain across the farming service community.
Staff at DTS in Normanby, which manufactures agricultural products, including stainless steel milk tanks for Fonterra suppliers, were told 36 jobs would be going out of the current 48.
The job cuts were due to a drop in orders, union organiser Ross Henderson of Etu said on Thursday.
Rural service businesses are all feeing the pinch of the dairy downturn, Hawera’s Powerfarming Taranaki service manager Darryn Sunnex said.
«The dairy downturn is biting all through the town. Our workshop is quite quiet, sales are down, its definitely biting and you’ll find the same story all around town.»
Although the company had not had to lay off staff and did not intend to, there was far less work than normal for this time of year. Other business people he had spoken to were experiencing the same problems, he said.
«We will feel the pinch through the winter. Farmers have locked up their wallets and are spending the minimum they have to, and I don’t blame them. We are trying to do everything we can to help them get through with delayed payments and that sort of thing. We all have to pull together to get through, there’s no other option.»
South Taranaki District Mayor Ross Dunlop said the job losses were a symptom of what was happening in the dairy industry at the moment, but he did not believe this was the beginning of a round of similar cuts in the district.
«I would hope there isn’t more. There’s still a need for the support and the factories and the processing, that has still got to be done.»
«There’s not that expansion and growth at the moment, obviously theres not the cowsheds being built, not the requirement for new vats and equipment that goes with that, that’s part of the reason.»
«It’s probably those industries that are on the fringes of that, the «nice to have» products or that supply an expanding situation that are going to be the ones that are affected, and I think that’s where Truetest [DTS] would be,» he said.
«One of the strengths of South Taranaki is we’ve got the farms abut we’ve got the processing as well. We have the three Fonterra factories and we have also got the meat processors,so in some ways we are fortunate. Milk still has to be processed, meat sill has to be processed. If we only had a strong farming focus in the district, I imagine the dairy downturn and its effects would be worse.»
«Obviously the big concern [over the DTS layoffs] is with the workers and their families, that’s the first concern.I would be hoping the company is looking after these people, and helping them find employment, I’d be encouraging them to do that.»
He said there were some positive signs despite the Fonterra announcement this week that it was dropping the forecast payout again.
«We’ve just had the interest rates drop today, and that all helps. Beef prices are at an all time high, so it helps when you’re selling surplus cows, we are getting good prices for those. In Taranaki a lot of bull calves are reared and bull calf prices are also high, bull calves are making between $500 and $600 for a five to six month calf, depending on size and weight, when normally they would be worth $300 – $400, he said.
Although the dairy industry was struggling, other areas of agriculture, which include beef, sheep, wool, wine and forestry were doing well for New Zealand.
«It does have cycles, it will come right, but that’s no comfort for the people that are affected right now.»
South Taranaki District Council building consent figures reflect the hard times facing dairy farmers.
In the first two months this year, just one building consent was issued for a new cow shed, whereas last year over the same period there had been five consents.
– Stuff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/77735588/dairy-downturn-pain-being-felt-in-wider-rural-community.html