During the last six months the majority of the work being undertaken on our new pelleting and packaging facility in Myrtleford has focussed on site preparation. Removal of the old flour mill and associated infrastructure took longer than anticipated and also required subsequent upgrades to the roof, supporting beams and floors to rectify the shortcuts taken during installation. Additional building reinforcement was also required to ensure the building would be strong enough to carry cool room panelling and ancillary infrastructure all required to be suspended from the roof. While this work was being undertaken our engineering team have been focussed on finalising design and engineering requirements to optimise the layout and operation of the plant and obtain the construction permits.
In recent months work commenced on the installation of cool room panelling for the new bale store and finished goods cool rooms. Refrigeration infrastructure (compressors, cooling towers, pipework) are being installed at the same time, and work has also commenced on the installation of fire suppression systems that require the entire site to have exposed ceiling sprinklers. With the extensive concrete footings that will support the 24-metre-high tower now in place, work will shortly commence on the steel framework that will house the processing equipment. All the steelwork for the construction of the tower is onsite and we expect to see extensive progress on the tower construction prior to the construction team taking a two week break at Christmas.
Work on this project will recommence early in the new year and we still expect the facility to be completed approximately 1st week of April 2024.
With regards to crop 2024, work across the farms continues on schedule. Some late changes to international demand resulted in the need to idle additional areas, resulting in approximately 25% of planted gardens idled for this year.
As already communicated this decrease in production is a reflection of global oversupply, and reflects HPA’s decision to not grow hops we cannot sell in the short term.
This smaller crop (approx. 1,500MT) will provide the business with the opportunity to really focus on quality, with greater flexibility at harvest to avoid rain events, optimise harvest and kilning operations and really focus on harvesting each variety at target maturity.
