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\nJuken New Zealand\u2019s Northland Mill, on Whangatane Drive on the northern fringe of Kait\u0101ia.
\nPhoto: Peter de Graaf\n<\/p>\n
Long-time Kaitaia residents say the Far North town would be devastated if its big employer timber mills shut their gates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two mills belonging to Japanese-owned Juken New Zealand are facing uncertain futures, with the company looking to sell up<\/a>.<\/p>\n It said it was because of a combination of ongoing structural and market pressures affecting operations, including declining demand in key export markets.<\/p>\n It also singled out higher operating costs.<\/p>\n Juken New Zealand said it had been working over several years to improve the finances of its two Kaitaia sites but had not been able to make them sustainable.<\/p>\n Kaitaia has about 6000 people and the two mills employ more than 200 people.<\/p>\n Resident and former editor of the Northland Age newspaper Peter Jackson said nobody saw the development coming.<\/p>\n “There would be massive unemployment<\/a>, there would be shop closures, there would be all sorts of financial fallout,” he said if closures happened.<\/p>\n “I’d hate to think what the outcome would be but it would be a blow to the heart of Kaitaia, it really would.”<\/p>\n \nJNL’s engineered wood Triboard product made in Kaitaia is used in residential and commercial buildings Jackson said there was not a lot of other work on offer in the town, and no other employer like Juken New Zealand.<\/p>\n “I can remember when Juken came into the picture and people were praying, literally, that they would buy it,” he said.<\/p>\n “This is part of Kaitaia’s big dream, we were always sold on the idea that forestry was going to be our future … and the fact that a processing plant was built in Kaitaia was regarded as a massive win for this community … and you just sort of think it will always be there.”<\/p>\n Jackson said an old months-long workers’ strike brought the town to a standstill.<\/p>\n “No-one paid their bills, there was no money going around, it was a nightmare.”<\/p>\n The strike was something former publican Dave Collard, who had a tavern nearby, remembered well.<\/p>\n His premises was used for strike meetings.<\/p>\n ‘Critical’ for town<\/p>\n Collard said he had served “many, many” Juken timber workers over the years.<\/p>\n “It’s absolutely critical in terms of the town here,” he said.<\/p>\n “We have enough challenges up here as it is without one of our biggest employers potentially closing down, I would hate to see something like that, there’s [got] to be an alternative somewhere, or a remedy.<\/p>\n “You know what is real scary about this is we’re seeing it all over New Zealand, look at the places that have closed up – the frozen veggies people, sawmills, all sorts where people work for years and years and years, it is very much a reality and if we’re not thinking about it I think we’ve got our heads buried in the sand.”<\/p>\n![\"JNL\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4NOS81D_copyright_image_164031.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Juken New Zealand Ltd\n<\/p>\n
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