COMMISSION wool processing company EP Robinson Pty Limited’s Geelong operation will close in a deal that has put ownership of a new company Australian Wool Processors solely with Michell Wool in Adelaide.
EPR managing director Jim Robinson said his company had joined forces with Michell Wool, but he will have no shareholding in the new company and continue as AWP sales manager.
“Michell Wool is a separate company and will own 100 per cent of Australian Wool Processors.
“It has been set up as a separate company for the purposes of providing a wool processing service.”
Mr Robinson said his purpose was to ensure there is the survival of a sole early-stage wool processing facility in Australia. He said Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval had been received.
Mr Robinson said Michell Wool in Adelaide and EP Robinson in Geelong had been struggling with not enough work.
“It’s a seasonal business and at the low point in the season we were running at 40 percent capacity.”
Mr Robinson said the Michell Wool plant had the capacity to take on EPR’s volume.
“Whereas we didn’t have the capacity to take on what they were doing.”
He said some specialist EPR equipment would be provided to the new AWP company “under a commercial arrangement.”
“As we all know there is less wool, there is less Merino wool, there is less non-mulesed wool, there is less Responsible Wool Standard wool and it is affecting our businesses.”
EP Robinson wool scouring.
Mr Robinson said the development will establish an independent wool scouring, wool carbonising and wool grease facility that brings together generations of wool know-how and safeguards Australia’s sovereign wool processing capacity for the foreseeable future.
The new entity, Australian Wool Processors (AWP), will operate out of Adelaide and serve as the country’s sole early-stage processing operation of its kind.
“AWP provides us with a realistic chance of survival, of retaining generational wool processing knowledge and our all-important sovereign status, which was increasingly unlikely were we to continue as two separate entities both running at sub-optimal levels,” Mr Robinson said.
“The reality is the local wool industry has been doing it tough for a good few years, driven by, among others, growth in offshore wool processing, drought in Australia, lower wool prices and a drop in demand that has prompted many farmers to exit the market in favour of meat producing sheep.”
Mr Robinson said further wool industry decline is predicted in the coming years.
“This partnership will allow the Australian wool industry – most notably our customers, the growers and traders – to offer the many international clients who wish to buy processed wool directly from Australia a world class home-based service,” he said.
“Overseas mills and brands place great value on the full transparency and integrity that’s inherent throughout the Australian supply chain, from farm to fibre.
“They know it is authentically Australian, backed by a legacy of quality and a commitment to responsible and environmentally ethical production.”
Mr Robinson said the new entity will operate under some of the world’s most stringent compliance, certification and environmental standards while providing customers with consistent fibre quality and agile response times.
With the consolidation of skills and plant at AWP and the anticipated increase in demand at a single facility, some of the 33 EPR staff – 21 full-time and 12 casual – will be offered positions in the new company, while all will receive the required notice and their full entitlements.
“We are also working with government and non-government parties to assist with the retraining of our staff to enhance their prospects of securing good, well-paid jobs in other industry sectors,” Mr Robinson added.
Processing of orders on hand at EP Robinson will be completed over the next few weeks, with the plant ceasing production in late August 2025. All new orders from today will be attended to by AWP.
A sad day indeed. I spent five years working at EPR during my time as a student at university and it taught me skills and knowledge I could learn nowhere else. It was such a unique type of processing and is now becoming even more scarce in this country. Good luck to all.