Murray Now

The Australian rice industry has the capacity to produce more than 1 million tonnes of rice per year. All Australian rice is milled, packed and branded in the Riverina, NSW by SunRice. Recently in Deniliquin, SunRice’s largest and most sophisticated milling and packing facility, invested $2.5 million on upgrading and re-establishing two Mills at the Deniliquin site. Sun Rice have also invested in the internal rail link, and training for new staff to run the operation. The recent re-employment of new staff has brought a buzz back to Deniliquin.

Rice grower Nick Morona on his farm in Deniliquin (Credit: Sydney Morning Herald)

SunRice has recently employed around 130 people and this figure continues to grow. The new roles were targeted for skilled staff, including millers, packing line operators, electrical and mechanical maintainers and logistics personnel, as well as associated support roles spanning safety, quality, human resources and finance. Jobs have also been created to allow for 24 hour operation of the mill, and this process will be ongoing.

In 2008 the difficult decision was made to temporarily close the Deniliquin Mill and place it into caretaker mode. This was brought about after six years of drought, and a decline in rice production to just 19,000 tonnes. While a small on-site crew maintained the Mill in 2011, on the back of good water allocations and an 800,000 tonne rice crop SunRice was able to reopen the Deniliquin Mill.

SunRice Chairman, Gerry Lawson said, “To see this magnificent plant in operation again and employing local people is the outcome that we’d always hoped for after such a difficult decision to close the mill in 2008. This is a wonderful result, not only for our industry, but for the people of Deniliquin and the Murray region. The strong crop coupled with the mill reopening will have a positive impact on the region as a whole and bring with it significant economic flow-on effects.”

Specifically the Deniliquin Mill specialises in SunRice “large packs” which are 25 kilograms and over. It predominantly processes and packs rice for export markets – sending premium branded product to destinations like the Middle East and Asia.

Anyone interested in roles at the Deniliquin Mill is encouraged to make contact via www.mycareeratsunrice.com.au or by emailing recruitment@sunrice.com.au.