Far North leaders are on the lookout for a saviour to rescue Juken New Zealand’s two Kaitāia mills, with a PwC-led tender process now open and 200 jobs on the line if a credible bidder fails to emerge before the Japanese parent company exits next month.
It comes as the Far North District Council (FNDC), Northland Regional Council (NRC), and regional development agency Northland Inc have all thrown their weight behind the search, with FNDC group manager for planning and policy Roger Ackers pitching the Northland Mill and Triboard plant as an established asset base with strong sector fundamentals for incoming investors.
Wood Central understands that the sale covers both the sawn-timber-focused Northland Mill and the adjacent Triboard plant, which manufactures engineered wood panels used in residential and commercial construction across New Zealand. Together, the two facilities employ 200 people on the northern fringe of Kaitāia, placing Juken NZ among the town’s largest private employers alongside Health NZ — a workforce the councils argue is simply too strategic to lose.
It comes as the Far North is home to New Zealand’s highest electricity prices, a built-in cost that has long shadowed Kaitāia’s mills and ultimately defeated several years of JNL turnaround attempts. Earlier this month, Juken NZ managing director Hisayuki Tsuboi revealed that declining demand in key export markets and elevated operating costs had forced Juken’s hand after years of trying to lift financial performance.
“Forestry remains one of Northland’s key industries,” Ackers told the NZ Herald, with the council group flagging retention of jobs, skills, and processing capability as the key priority throughout the tender.
Real potential for a rebound
Northland Inc.’s head of investment, Tui Rutherford, is pitching hard to prospective investors, pointing to a significant forestry resource, experienced operators, and established infrastructure across the region. “We see real potential to build on what already exists,” Rutherford said, confirming that the agency was working with PwC and JNL to ensure incoming capital understood the strategic value of the operations within the wider Northland forestry system.
The white knight hunt comes as New Zealand’s wood processing is bleeding, with 570 jobs already gone at Oji Fibre Solutions’ Kinleith paper machine (230), Eves Valley Sawmill in Tasman (140), and the Karioi Pulpmill and Tangiwai Sawmill in Ruapehu (200) over the past two years. For Kaitāia, a town of roughly 6,000 people carrying 18 per cent unemployment, the 200 mill jobs equate to one in every thirty residents and anchor the town’s wider service economy.
Juken NZ employs more than 450 people across its three New Zealand mills, with 145 of the Kaitāia workforce represented by Workers First Union and others covered by E tū or non-unionised. Northland MP Grant McCallum confirmed earlier this month that a consortium of New Zealand-based investors, including Northland business figures, was already in discussions with Juken, though no formal offer has been disclosed, and the PwC-led tender now runs as the formal mechanism for anyone hoping to take the keys.
