The world’s largest grower, processor and marketer of macadamias, The Marquis Group, has welcomed Ben Adams as Chief Executive Officer of Marquis Macadamias Australia, following the retirement of former CEO Larry McHugh.  

Mr Adams brings more than 20 years of senior management experience in agriculture to the role, and was most recently the General Manager of an Australian macadamia processing company and Director of its associated marketing organisation, prior to joining Marquis.  

He has also worked in key management roles both domestically and internationally, including heading up a hybrid seed business with major operations in the United States and Mexico.  

Chairman and Board Director of Marquis Macadamias Australia, Clayton Mattiazzi, said Ben would bring a fresh perspective to the opportunities and challenges the Group expected to face in the coming seasons.  

“Ben has the full support of the Board to drive the long-term development strategy for Marquis Macadamias to create the most efficient processing operation to maximise the benefits to our growers, shareholders, partners, and staff,” Mr Mattiazzi said. 

“Based on the strong foundations established over many years by former CEO Larry McHugh, Ben will look to drive productivity and innovation in these challenging times for the macadamia industry. 

“Our focus is on providing the greatest returns possible to our grower and shareholders both year on year and economically and sustainably for many seasons to come,” he said. 

Mr Adams has started meeting with staff with visits to both Lismore and Bundaberg sites in his first weeks and will soon take time to speak with the suppliers. “I am keen to meet with shareholders and suppliers to ensure we are listening to their concerns and supporting them through these challenging times”. 

The Marquis Macadamia group is working to develop new strategies, markets, and end uses for macadamia products. As a result, we have absolute confidence in our full range of expanding products, and I look forward to creating the maximum value for our shareholders and suppliers. 

The Lismore App spoke to Mr Adams about the problems the industry is facing and the position of the Marquis Group.

Mr Adams said one of the big challenges faced by the company is the downturn in price at the farm gate level for the producers, "The nutshell they produce, we've seen a significant decline in the value of that in the last 6 to 18 months."

"That's driven by a number of factors. Absolutely, there's an increase in global supply of macadamias and it's accelerating. So, the crop was reasonably stable for a long period of time and we've, just so you know, the last 2 to 3 years, a real acceleration of supply of macadamias onto the market and obviously with COVID and all the related items around that the activities around extra demand creation haven't necessarily kept pace with the extra supply. So there's been downward pressure on price, and that's a global phenomenon."

Mr Adams said that 70% to 80% of the Australian macadamia crop is exported.

"It's a very large number, even though Australians, I think and I may stand corrected, I believe is one of the highest consumers as grams per head consumption is one of the highest in the world. We do sell quite a bit domestically, but the international market is by far and away the biggest component of all the macadamia businesses in Australia."

Mr Adams has visited the Lismore processing plant. How is the downturn affecting staff?

"They're part of the community, so they're also impacted by the pricing downturn. So, they're conscious of it. We're looking to make sure that the factory as a whole is running as efficiently as it possibly can, so that every last cent of value is passed back to our growers. As a grower-owned organisation, it's really important that we're as efficient as possible to get as much money back to our farmers as possible."

The Marquis Group will be closing their books on the 2022/23 financials on 31 March 2023.

The downward pressure on price and the increase in costs led to a loss of $5.29 million following a profit of $9.078 million in 2020/21.

What is the financial position of the Marquis Group?

"Being quite new, I'm still investigating that. So I'd probably, on the job less than three weeks, I'd probably pass on comment on any financial performance."

The Lismore App has heard from two sources that staff from the Lismore processing centre are not being paid or there is delayed payment of wages. Is there any truth to these comments?

"I'll get back to you on that, I'm 99.9% sure that's an absolute falsehood. So no. We're solvent, we're paying our bills and we're paying our staff. I'll confirm that because that's a very direct question, but I would categorically deny that and I'll come back to you if I'm incorrect, but I can't imagine that's even close to the truth."

Mr Adams did confirm in an email later that same day, "Confirm all staff are being paid in full and on time."

Ben Adams has taken over the CEO role of the Marquis Group at a challenging time in the macadamia industry.