Nerada hits pause to turn over a new leaf
Nerada Tea Estates has announced it will pause production at its plantation and factory on the Atherton Tablelands until the business can transition to higher-value products that would allow it to remain competitive in the current tough global economic climate.
The move comes after the estate was forced to close its tearoom attraction and estate tours in December last year as a result of the global pandemic and the slow recovery of the tourism sector.
Nerada Tea Estates Manager Tony Poyner, who is taking redundancy, said the Atherton Tablelands staff were a close-knit team with many working for the company for more than a decade and three notching up more than 30 years.
“We are all sad that this change has come about for our family of workers, but are grateful that Nerada Tea Estates is offering each of us support to transition to other work,” Mr Poyner said.
Nerada Tea Chair John Russell said the tough decision to enter a holding pattern at the plantation was made after five very difficult years that had adversely affected the company’s profitability.
“I met with the staff this
week to discuss the need for a significant change to the business and after a consultation period have today announced that our nine permanent staff will receive redundancy packages while two will remain with the business,” he said.
“It is a very sad day for Nerada Tea Estates and the loyal people who have
helped Nerada Tea to become the largest producer of Australian-grown tea since opening our processing factory in 1991.
“We are very proud of our history on the Tablelands which stretches back four decades to when Nerada
Tea established a plantation at Malanda and value our loyal employees who have contributed to the strength
of the Nerada brand.
“Sadly, the plantation has faced setbacks including a serious drought in 2018, the pandemic, and escalating production costs on the back of soaring inflation combined with a 10 per cent yearly decrease in demand for black tea on our supermarket shelves.”
Nerada Tea will look to shift to higher-value tea products such as tea aromas, but this requires a multimillion-dollar investment into new equipment and time to shift production.
“Given this delay we are faced with the difficult decision to enter a holding pattern until Nerada Tea Estates is in a position to once again produce a profitable tea product.”