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15 November, 2021

Approval sought for expansion of piggery

Clifton-based pig production company CEFN Pty Ltd has submitted an application to Toowoomba Regional Council for a Material Change of Use (MCU) to enable it to expand its operation at Ellangowan.


The capacity of CEFN’s Ellangowan piggery will be almost doubled when its expansion project is completed, boosting job numbers at the faculty.
The capacity of CEFN’s Ellangowan piggery will be almost doubled when its expansion project is completed, boosting job numbers at the faculty.

When approved, the move will almost double the capacity of the facility, known as “Kyles Piggery”, on the Toowoomba-Karara Road.

The currently approved capacity for the piggery is 7,000 Standard Pig Units (SPU), although it is presently operating at a capacity of 4,770 SPU.

The application before the Council seeks to increase the capacity to 13,800 SPU.

CEFN set up its Ellangowan piggery in the early 1990s after approval was given by the then Clifton Shire Council in December 1991 for a facility based on 700 sows.

EMPLOYMENT BOOST

CEFN Director Andrew Jones said expansion of the Ellangowan piggery will lead to more jobs.

Mr Jones said the number of people employed there will be boosted by 16 after the build is completed.

He said during the build programme there will be 20 of CEFN’s own staff involved along with 20 outside contractors including trades people and the install team.

Mr Jones said the need for an expansion of the piggery has been driven by an increase in demand for the product.

CEFN is in the carcase market and there has been a marked increase in demand on the domestic market.

The company’s wholesale division distributes around one third of its output in northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland, between Lismore and the Sunshine Coast and intoToowoomba.

The remainder is sent to other wholesalers for distribution elsewhere in Australia into supermarkets and others in the retail sector.

Mr Jones said CEFN exports product to Singapore and has been doing so since 1999, but that is a stable market so none of the extra capacity from the Ellangowan expansion will be sent overseas.

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