Murgon Leather, Queensland, Australia, and a member of the Teys Group, were recently dealt a double blow. The company were forced to impose water restrictions due to the drought and their main supplier of hides closed temporarily due to damage caused by cyclone Larry. The Innisfail Meatworks was due to resume work at the end of April.

As a result the labour force was cut by about 20% and production was down by one third. General manager James Barbeler said they would normally process around 10-12,000 hides a week but were 3-4,000 hides short of that.