By Laura Michell
Hundreds of proposed jobs for Hume and Whittlesea are likely to have been lost, after Kaufland announced it would withdraw from the Australian market.
Last week, the German supermarket chain announced it had decided to undertake “an orderly withdrawal” from the Australian market to focus on its European markets.
The company is in the process of building its $225 million Australian headquarters in Mickleham.
Construction of the distribution centre at the Merrifield Business Park began in June last year.
Speaking in March last year, Kaufland Australia managing director Julia Kern said the centre would create 600 jobs in Mickleham.
Ms Kern said the company was hoping to create up to 2400 jobs in Victoria.
Kaufland also has approval to build a store on the former Bunnings site on High Street, Epping. The site was cleared last year, paving the way for construction to commence.
The company also has approval for a store on the former Masters site on Pascoe Vale Road in Coolaroo, and was seeking approval for a third northern suburbs store on vacant land at 525-535 McDonalds Road in South Morang.
Kaufland International acting chief executive Frank Schumann said the decision to withdraw from Australia had not been easy.
“We always felt welcome in Australia. We would like to thank our employees and we apologise for the disruption this decision will cause,” he said.
“We would also like to thank our business partners, who offered us great support over the last few years. We would also like to thank the government for being very open-minded to our projects.”
Kaufland said the future of its Australian investments, including its Merrifield Business Park site, would be discussed with the relevant parties in the coming days.
