An upgrade of the Warrnambool saleyards set to begin soon, but report into its future not to be made public

Just how much that work will cost is yet to be determined, the council says, but reaffirmed its commitment to go ahead with improvements at the saleyards.

The city council set aside $2.56 million in its 2021/22 budget for saleyards upgrade while flagging the price tag for works could be as much as $3.5 million.

A new report on the saleyards has now been submitted to the council, but said it would not be publicly released because it contains "market sensitive intelligence".

That report was expected to provide direction to the council as to the extent of development needed at the yards.

"Council has reaffirmed its commitment to proceed with improvements at the saleyards," a spokesman for the council said.

"The walkway replacement and enhancement will commence shortly while the finalisation of the tender for the roof extension is being concluded.

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"The price will be determined by the market and council will assess submissions when they are received."

Sales at the yards are on par with last year's numbers with 18,500 head financial year to the end of October.

Last financial year, the facility made $210,000 profit while drawing in $1.19 million in user fees to council coffers - a slight drop on the previous year's user fees of $1.3 million.

"Council is thankful for the continuing support of the buyers, producers and agents and looks forward to the enhancements to the facility in the near future," it said.

The old concrete walkways at the South West Livestock Exchange were removed after collapsing in October last year during a sale which was described as being "like an earthquake".

No one was injured, but the incident led to a review of the facility.

Almost $1 million has been spent putting a new roof on the saleyards - a joint project between the council and Victorian government.

The large roof area also allowed for the capture of a large volume of stormwater into tanks which have a combined storage of more than 400,000 litres.

The saleyards has been touted by governments as contributing about $34 million to the city's economy each year.

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