‘There’s a lot of concern’: Meeting held in Kaitāia as future of town’s mills up in the air

Monday, 25 May 2026

There is concern in Kaitāia about the prospects of two possible mill closures, with roughly 200 jobs on the line.

In March, Japanese-owned Juken New Zealand Ltd announced a formal consultation process over the future of its Northland Mill and Triboard Mill.

At the time, Juken NZ Managing Director Hisayuki Tsuboi said the move reflected a “combination of ongoing structural and market pressures” affecting their operations, including “declining demand” in key export markets and increasing operating costs.

The consultation process closed last Friday, with the company now set to review employee and union feedback, alongside assessing any interest from potential buyers.

Juken says no decisions have been made about the future of the two mills, and a spokesperson told Stuff its focus remains on testing whether there is a “viable pathway” for the mills to continue operating.

Public meeting held as Kaitāia community raise concerns

Operations at the mills are continuing as normal; however, a public meeting in Kaitāia was held over the weekend to discuss the situation.

The meeting was attended by community members, politicians, and iwi leaders, with around 100 people turning out to share their concerns.

Workers First union delegate Marcus Coverdale told Stuff there was genuine concern about the impact the prospect of 200 job losses could have on Kaitāia, something he said would be “massive”.

“There's a lot of concern in the wider community … all the delivery drivers, those contractors that go in to do the electrical work, and also the small town businesses that enjoy the support that comes from people that have wages to spend,” Coverdale said.

“We don't want to see that happen in Kaitāia. It's important to keep these mills open, but we're talking about a company that has had restructuring and redundancies in some way, shape or form, at least five times prior to this.”

Coverdale said the community supports the mills and it would be “devastating” if they close.

“Some of my members have been there 27 years, 35 years. There's an electrician there that did the sound system, who'd been there pre-Juken buying it. There are some old heads there, some people that have got a lot of technical knowledge.”

Coverdale said the unions were entering bargaining from Tuesday at the Triboard Mill and that their main focus was trying to get workers “the best deal we can in the short term' given the uncertainty about the mills future.

“My thing is I want them to upskill everyone while they have the chance. So while those workers are still there, to move up through the pay grades, to get the training that they haven't got yet, and to be able to leave if the doors close with a few more skills than they had.”

He said there had been talk of a consortium of parties interested in buying the mills, adding that putting local money into the business would have support.

“If there was local money in it, perhaps some of these people that own forestry blocks and stuff would support the mill. At the moment they don’t, they support the smaller mills because they are locally owned,” Coverdale said.

“There’s talk of a consortium of people to buy it. I don’t think there is any one person that would be able to buy it outright. I think even the talk of Wayne Brown buying it isn't Wayne Brown by himself.”

On the prospect of buying the mills, Brown told RNZ last week that he was “chewing it over”. Brown was formerly Far North Mayor and has multiple business interests in the area.

Situation alarming, say politicians

Other politicians say they share the concern of locals about the uncertainty around the mills’ future, but remain hopeful of a “successful” sale.

Northland MP Grant McCallum told Stuff he had been briefed on the situation and “appreciated” the concerns raised by the workers and the community.

McCallum added that he was “encouraged by the genuine interest” prospective buyers had shown in acquiring the mill.

Labour’s spokesperson for jobs and income, Ginny Anderson, said a closure would be “devastating” for Kaitāia, but added that it was not a one-off event, but part of a “broader pattern of closures”.

“We’ve seen major closures at Wattie’s, Kinleith Mill, Winstone Pulp, Sealord, and many other companies reducing their workforces. Each one of those jobs lost is a family struggling to pay the bills or a loved one moving to Australia,” she said.

Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said the news will be “challenging” for workers, their whanau, and the wider community.

'Any consultation of this nature creates understandable concern. We know this will be a difficult time for affected workers and their families,” he told Stuff.

'Our priority now is to understand the situation fully and work alongside Juken as they explore options in a very tough economic environment.'

Tepania said his council would be seeking “involvement” from central government given the “scale of the potential economic impact” to Kaitāia.

'Councils cannot advocate for this alone, and we need all partners at the table,” he said.

News of the situation with the two mills came as the Government announced a loan scheme to extend a helping hand to industries struggling with gas costs.

The help will come in the form of Crown-backed loans, with the Government guaranteeing 80% of each eligible loan in exchange for banks offering lower interest rates to borrowers.

Over the past two years, six wood processing facilities have closed across New Zealand, including the Kinleith Mill in Tokoroa and the Eves Valley Sawmill near Nelson.

Juken told Stuff it is committed to providing an update as soon as a decision is reached.