Wool company moving to Hastings

The Farmers Transport site in Hastings has been bought by Carrfields, owners of Napier-based Elder Primary Wools, which is expected to move there later this year. Photo / Duncan Brown

A major wool buying firm is set to end a long-standing tie to Napier, with a move to Hastings over the next 12 to18 months.

The move by Elders Primary Wool, now owned by Carrfields Group, has been signalled by the purchase of the Farmers Transport site in Hastings from Maraekakaho Properties Ltd.

Details of the timing of the shift are not yet clear but Farmers Transport will continue as a tenant of the site, its chief executive Jayson Roebuck confirmed.

It is the headquarters for a major central North Island rural carrier, with 11 branches in Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, Manawatu, Wanganui, Taranaki and Waikato regions.

The Elders Primary Wool move stems from the sale by Elders Australia and Sredle Rural Services Group of Elders New Zealand to Ashburton-based Carr Group last year.

It included Elders' 50 per cent share in Elders Primary Wool, the other 50 per cent being retained by joint-venture partner Primary Wool Co-Operative, which is chaired by Bay de Lautour.

The new Carr Elders Group was rebranded Carrfields in December. In a statement, Carrfields Group managing director Craig Carr said Elders Primary Wool, along with other businesses under the group, were expected to move to the Hastings site mid-year.

He said purchase of the site of about 8 hectares "demonstrates the Carr family's commitment to the ongoing development of the Elders and Carrfields business across regional New Zealand".

Last year he said it was exciting to have the Elders interest in New Zealand returned to New Zealand ownership, bringing together two strong businesses under one New Zealand entity.

Elders Primary Wool has been on its current harbour board lease site in Thames St for about eight years.

Before this, it was located in nearby Tyne St.

The future of the Thames St site, now part of the Napier City Council's industrial leasehold lands portfolio, is understood to be undecided.

Carr Group started up 40 years ago in Ashburton and the company has remained a family-owned business since then.

Now rebranded as Carrfields, it is involved in a range of agribusiness, including harvesting and machinery, mainly in the South Island.