The deadline for prospective buyers to bid for two of Kaitāia’s timber mills has now expired, closing a two-month process that will decide whether about 200 Far North jobs are saved or the two Japanese-owned mills close. Wood Central understands that the formal consultation closed at 4pm NZST today, ending the consultation on the Northland and Triboard mills, alongside the window for any potential purchaser to register interest.
Juken New Zealand opened the consultation in late March, telling employees and unions it was testing whether the Kaitāia operations could continue under a different structure, including a sale or joint venture. The company has told Stuff that no decisions have been made and that reviewing staff and union feedback alongside any offers will take several weeks.
Speaking about the decision to close, Juken New Zealand managing director Hisayuki Tsuboi said the company had spent several years trying to lift production and open new markets at the Kaitāia sites without restoring them to profitability. He pointed to a combination of structural and market pressures, including declining demand in key export markets and rising operating costs.
“We have not been able to return the mills to a sustainable footing,” Tsuboi said.
Whether a credible buyer emerges before the deadline remains unclear, although the process has drawn interest from beyond the Far North. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown — a former Far North Mayor with extensive business interests in Kaitāia — confirmed this week he was weighing a private bid for the mills, telling RNZ he was “chewing it over”, though his office declined to comment to Stuff on the basis that the matter fell outside his role as mayor.
With the mills’ future unresolved, Workers First Union has called a public meeting in Kaitāia on Saturday, inviting mill workers, community members, iwi and political leaders. The union has warned that losing the two sites would strip about 200 jobs from the town and deliver a “devastating effect” on both the local industry and the wider community.
The Kaitāia sites are the latest New Zealand wood processing operations to face an uncertain future, with the sector squeezed by soft export markets and high energy costs. Six processing plants have closed nationally in the past two years, among them the Kinleith mill at Tokoroa and the Eves Valley sawmill near Nelson.
Juken New Zealand says all three of its New Zealand mills — the two Kaitāia sites and one in Wairarapa — are operating as normal, but the future of the Far North pair and about 200 jobs now rests on the offers received before 4 pm today.
Please note: Wood Central will update this story once a decision on the sawmills is announced.
