AFTER three long years in dormancy SunRice’s big Deniliquin rice mill in the State’s Riverina is now working flat chat to clean, polish and pack this year’s crop.
When drought-hit rice production plummeted to an all-time low of 19,000 tonnes in 2008, SunRice was forced to shut the mill, placing it into “care and maintenance”.
But, with the current harvest expected to peak at more than 800,000t this season, SunRice recommissioned the mill late last year and began processing its first intake of grain in late March.
Now running five days a week with more than 100 employees on-site, SunRice will need to employ another 40 people by July to get the mill up-and-running to seven days a week.
SunRice’s group manufacturing manager, Mike McLeod, said once the structured seven-day operation began, it would be the first time ever the mill was run at full capacity every day of the week.
Deniliquin is SunRice’s largest and most sophisticated mill and one of the largest rice mills in the world.
It specialises in processing and packing for the export market, with 25-kilogram packs generally bound for the Middle East and Asian markets.
The packing shed is now filling up as the big harvest nears completion.
By Tuesday growers had delivered more than 738,000t of good quality paddy across all rice growing regions in south west NSW.
In the Murray Valley region alone close to 330,000t had been received.
With Deniliquin the heartland of rice production in the Murray region, closing the mill had been a difficult decision for its owners which impacted greatly on the local economy.
However, Mr McLeod, said it was fantastic for the company that the site was running again.
It was also great for the Deniliquin community.
“Since we re-opened the mood and morale has lifted around the town,” he said.
SunRice chairman, Gerry Lawson, said to see the Deniliquin plant operating again and employing local people was the outcome they had always hoped for.
“It is a joy to walk on-site and hear the hum of the gear after three years of dormancy,” Mr Lawson said.
“It’s set to have a positive impact on the region and bring with it significant economic flow-on effects.”
He said the company invested $2.5 million to recommission both Deniliquin Mill one and two, repair the internal rail link and recruit and train the new employees.
While only about 20pc of the current workforce had previously been employed at the mill, most of the new employees were from the local area, or had moved back to the area to take the jobs.
