CONSTRUCTION of a $60 million almond processing plant in northwest Victoria was announced recently.
Olam Australia, which owns about 12,000ha of almond orchards in the region, will build the plant at Carwarp, south of Mildura.
It will be built before the company regains management control over its orchards after completion of next year's harvest.
Select Harvests, which has managed the former Timbercorp-owned orchards on Olam's behalf since 2009, will retain management of about 5200ha of company-owned orchards in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia, and another 1800ha managed on behalf of other owners.
Select Harvests chief executive officer John Bird said there was a looming shortage of almond shelling capacity in Australia as young trees matured and came into production.
Mr Bird said that, as well as future expansion and acquisitions, would replace a large proportion of the tonnages to be diverted by Olam to its own plant, which will be capable of processing 40,000 tonnes of almond kernels each year.
He said the almond business was showing signs of improvement after years of drought and water shortages, two poor crops thanks to wet harvest periods, and a high exchange rate for most of the year.
"The crop certainly looks better this year," he said.
"Nobody's finished any estimates yet, but next year is going to be significantly better than last year."
"I think the industry has a fair bit of upward momentum over the next couple of years."
During a visit to the region last week, Manufacturing, Exports and Trade Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said the Olam project was of major significance to Victoria and the Sunraysia region.
"In addition to the 90 direct jobs, the project is expected to generate downstream employment and economic activity along the value chain in construction, packaging, waste recycling, transport, storage and logistics," Mr Dalla-Riva said.
Olam Australia is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Olam International, which owns and operates agribusinesses in 65 countries.
