One of Australia’s biggest meat processors has shut down its operations at an Adelaide Hills factory, with hundreds of meat workers stood down “indefinitely” without pay.

Workers were due to return to Thomas Foods International (TFI) Lobethal meatworks on Monday, after a routine three-week winter annual leave.

However, on Friday they were told Thomas Foods was not re-opening the factory.

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Thomas Foods attributed the shutdown to the drought but said most workers would be offered alternative positions.

“Thomas Foods International is reducing its processing capacity in South Australia due to the well-documented drought in South Australia and lower livestock supply,” it told www.20304050.best.

“The drought has sharply decreased sheep supply with recovery not expected before 2027, despite recent rainfall.

“Production workers were notified on Friday and it is envisaged that most workers will be utilised under new working arrangements.

“Employees will be offered work at its other sites if not required at Lobethal.”

The closest meat processing factory is the newly rebuilt Murray Bridge factory almost an hour away from the Lobethal factory.

In 2018, a fire destroyed the Murray Bridge processing works, with the state and federal government stepping in at the time to invest $24 million to rebuild the factory on a new site about 10km from the centre of Murray Bridge.

South Australian Independent Member for Kavel Dan Cregan said “hundreds” of people had been impacted by the Lobethal factory shutdown.

“Thomas Foods’ decision to stand down hundreds of workers at Lobethal is hitting our community hard,” he said in a post on social media.

“We need certainty from TFI about its plans at Lobethal.”

TFI owner Chris Thomas is currently South Australia’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion.

Thomas Foods International, started by Thomas in 1988 and now run by his son Darren Thomas, had record sales revenue of $3.29 billion last year to make it the 14th largest private company by income in Australia.

Darren Thomas recently told Stock Journal that recent lifting of a ban on US imported beef would have little to no impact on TFI and the Australian beef industry.

TFI has processing plants in South Australia, NSW and Victoria and offices and operations in the US, Asia and Europe. It employs more than 3000 people with a turnover $3 billion annually.

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) SA branch secretary Justin Smith said the decision to close Lobethal was “very disappointing”.

“It’s also a very hard time particularly now that they’ve had three weeks off,” he told radio station 5MU on Tuesday.

“In the meat industry we have a thing called regular daily hire and shutdowns due to shortages of stock,” he said

“(The workers) are definitely still employed but they can be stood down if the company struggles to find livestock.

“I believe Thomas Foods is in this sort of area where they do want to be working, they do want to be producing product but if the sheep aren’t there ... there’s not much more they can do and unfortunately, it’s the workers who pay the price.”