One of Australia’s largest forest businesses, the Pentarch Group, will reopen the Yarram sawmill “sometime in the future”, with the Gippsland Times confirming that the Pentarch Group will now take over the former AKD mill — Australia’s largest softwood producer — in a deal that will save the mill and potentially many of the 73 jobs lost in last year’s closure.
It follows Wood Central’s reporting that the mill was shut in mid‑November amid weak market conditions and a prolonged housing downturn, with Cr Karen Stephens, Timber Towns Victoria President, and Wellington Shire Mayor Cindy Madeley warning that the closure highlighted the mounting pressure on regional timber communities.
However, in December, new job advertisements indicated that Pentarch was recruiting supervisory, production, and administrative staff for a proposed operation in Yarram. The listings indicate that the new venture would process Eucalyptus nitens, or silver gum, as a pallet and packaging feedstock.
Wood Central understands Pentarch already manufactures wooden pallets at its Swifts Creek mill. According to the company’s website, it “became Australia’s largest hardwood processor in 2021” after acquiring Dormit Pty Ltd’s Victorian sawmill and pallet business, along with Boral Limited’s hardwood and softwood operations, before commissioning a purpose‑built sawmill in Eden, NSW, in 2024.
However, the forced shutdown of Victoria’s native timber industry in January 2024 forced Pentarch to close the Dandenong South facility it acquired from Dormit, consolidating production at Swifts Creek in East Gippsland, with timber for pallet manufacturing being sourced from New South Wales and a third‑party supplier.
More than 70 Gippsland workers were axed weeks before Christmas
In November, the ABC reported that the decision to axe the Yarram mill shocked the small Gippsland town. Chevy Hilder was one of the 73 workers told that the mill, more than two and a half hours east of Melbourne, was shutting down immediately.
“That’s a lot of people that will have to find a new job or move out of the area,” the 29-year-old told ABC Gippsland. “There are just not enough jobs in the area for everyone who’s going to be looking now. It’s going to affect a whole lot more than they realise.”
At the time, AKD chief executive Shane Vicary said the decision was difficult but necessary, given external factors: “To remain a sustainable and competitive Australian business, we are adapting to market conditions, simplifying our operations and strengthening the core business at our four major sawmilling sites, which continue to produce the full suite of structural softwood products.”
“Having operated in regional communities for 70 years, the significance of our departure from Yarram is not lost on us,” Vicary said at the time. “We understand how important our operations have been to the fabric of this region, and we are committed to working with local stakeholders in Gippsland to reduce the impact of the closure where reasonably possible.”
