It's tough but Juken fights on

Slowing economies amongst its major markets was making life tough for Kaitaia's Northland veneer mill, Juken NZ manager Dennis Clarke said yesterday, but major and on-going efforts to nurture existing markets, and find new ones, were offering some cause for optimism.

Reduced sales of veneer had cost seven Northland mill jobs last month, and would potentially cost three more this month, while the installation of a $2.4 million automated stacker in March or April next year would also have an impact on job numbers.

The mill currently employed around 160 people, Mr Clarke said, with close to the same number at the triboard mill.

Mr Clarke was in South Korea last week, saying yesterday that the market there was still slow but orders had been placed for veneer through to early next year. He was also talking to major clients in New Zealand, one of which had restored its monthly order to 1000 cubic metres after it had fallen to less than half that.

"It's tough out there - I don't think people fully realise just how tough - but there are some positives," he said.

The Northland mill was currently producing around 15,000 cubic metres of veneer per month from around 27,000 tonnes of logs, but he did not expect harvesting to slow given the "huge" demand for export logs. As far as the triboard mill was concerned, Juken had been waiting for the Christchurch rebuild to get under way.

"That hasn't happened, yet," he said, "but we're also continuing to work on new products and to look for new markets."

One of a number of promising new products was a fire door that had been tested and approved in India - "I've been working on that for four years, and that's the one I'd really like to secure," he said.