Juken New Zealand (JNL) has launched a formal consultation process with employees over a proposal to close its Northland Mill after failing to secure a buyer for the operation. A final decision is expected by 16 July.<\/p>\n
The company said it had explored potential buyers and alternative options to keep the site operating but was unable to identify a commercially viable solution.<\/p>\n
According to JNL Director Yasufumi Tsuchiya, the proposal reflects difficult market conditions, including weaker demand in key export markets, rising operating costs and insufficient workload to run the mill sustainably.<\/p>\n
The Northland Mill employs around 60 people. Union Workers First, which represents about 40 employees at the site, described the announcement as disappointing and urged the New Zealand government to support a solution that would preserve domestic wood processing capacity.<\/p>\n
\"The proposal to close the Northland Mill would mean another major loss for New Zealand's wood processing sector,\" said Workers First Northland organiser Marcus Coverdale, who argued that more logs would be exported without domestic value-added processing if the mill shuts down.<\/p>\n
JNL confirmed that its Triboard operation is not affected by the proposal. The company continues to explore the sale of the Triboard site as a going concern.<\/p>\n
No final decision has been made. JNL said it is consulting employees and union representatives before determining the future of the mill and is providing support services to affected staff during the process.<\/p>\n
Juken New Zealand owns approximately 30,000 hectares of certified plantation forests and employs more than 300 forestry workers in Tair\u0101whiti and Wairarapa. Its remaining mills in Kaitaia and Wairarapa employ about 450 manufacturing workers, producing wood products for domestic and export markets.<\/p>\n
The company is owned by Japan's WoodOne Ltd, which established Juken New Zealand in 1990 and says it has invested more than NZ$720 million in its New Zealand forestry and wood processing operations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n