Fuel price, high dollar put mills on the block

The owners of the Kaitaia timber mill now being readied for closure are confident new owners can be found to give the plant a reprieve.

Since the Tanner Group decided in February to close the mill several potential buyers have shown interest.

The mill, which employed 60 staff, is on the market with two other company-owned mills at Tairua and Kerepehi. The sale is being managed by Ferrier Hodgson & Co on behalf of the BNZ and Tanner Group shareholders.

Tanner Group director David Warburton said yesterday the company was confident a buyer would be found for the Kaitaia site.

"Maybe not by the end of next month [when the plant is due to close]. It depends on due diligence by a buyer through Ferrier Hodgson."

Two New Zealand-based groups and a third with "offshore interests" have expressed interest in the Kaitaia plant, Mr Warburton said.

"It's in their hands now how far they take it.

"We're doing everything we can to keep the place going."

There was also potential buyer interest in the other Tanner Group mills at Tairua and Kerepehi which employ a total of 100 workers.

The company says the Kaitaia plant needs money spent on it but says, unlike the mills at Tairua and Kerepehi, it has an advantage with sawmilling and processing operations on the one site.

It also had access to a good supply of quality logs.

The company said its decision to close the three mills was triggered by the high New Zealand dollar adversely affecting export returns, higher oil, fuel and shipping charges, and compliance costs.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union northern organiser Robert Popata, whose union represented many of those employed at the Kaitaia mill, said most workers would be gone by today.

A few staff would remain to wind down the site.

Some workers had found other jobs, including a number who went to a Huntly sawmill company.

A working party of mill staff and community members, set up last month, was still looking at locally driven options to try to keep the plant operating, Mr Popata said.

A meeting would be held on the site today.