Drought may see meatworks drop shifts

Australian Meat Holdings has warned it may have to cut shifts at its Townsville abattoir next year, with predictions of reduced kill rates.

Chief executive John Keir says Meat and Livestock Australia has predicted next year's drought will cut the number of cattle available for slaughter by up to 10 per cent.

Mr Keir says some meatworks in southern states could close, while production is likely to be cut in Queensland.

"There's more slaughter capacity than there is ... animals to kill and that will put increasing pressure on people in the processing sector, ourselves included," he said.

"We'll continue to run the plants that we currently run, the four plants that we run in Queensland, we'll continue to attempt to run them at capacity, but there are some difficult times ahead. We may drop shifts or we may in fact drop days."