Leading integrated beef producer and processor, Australian Country Choice (ACC), has begun legal action in the Supreme Court of Queensland against supermarket giant Coles, alleging breaches of contractual obligations.
ACC has contracts in place that concern the supply of red meat to Coles, as well as to external parties, especially overseas.
Chief Executive Officer David Foote said ACC had no choice but to commence legal action against Coles after exhaustive negotiations failed to resolve several issues.
“For most of our forty-year partnership with Coles, the relationship has been a strong and mutually beneficial one but we consider that, in recent times, Coles has repeatedly breached its obligations, failed to act in good faith and taken steps that threaten the very core of our business,” he said.
“The ACC beef supply chain is well-known and highly-regarded which gives us great confidence in our long-term future and in our ability to build new customer relationships.”
ACC is an integral part of Queensland’s regional economy, working with hundreds of Queensland and Northern New South Wales beef producers and employing more than 1,400 staff from Cannon Hill to the Gulf of Carpentaria.