Tokoroa plywood plant closure decision to affect up to 119 workers

The closure of Carter Holt Harvey’s Tokoroa plywood plant would result in the loss of up to 119 fulltime jobs. Photo / Google Maps

By Libby Kirkby-McLeod of RNZ

Workers at Carter Holt Harvey’s Tokoroa plywood plant will hear early in the week if they still have a job.

The future of the factory has been up in the air for the past two weeks, but an announcement is expected on Tuesday morning.

On September 15, Carter Holt Harvey announced it had begun consulting on closing the plant and importing plywood from overseas.

That would result in the loss of up to 119 fulltime jobs.

The proposed closure followed Oji Fibre Solutions cutting 130 jobs and closing the country’s last paper-making machine at nearby Kinleith in June this year, with one local leader saying 2025 had been a “most brutal year”.

South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley says Tokoroa needs to move away from being a timber town to survive. Photo / Supplied

South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley said he was shocked at the news of more possible job losses in the district.

“This doesn’t help us one little bit,” he said.

Petley and others in the community felt the closure was a “done deal” and a box-ticking exercise.

E Tū union spokesman for the plant, Red Middlemiss, said this was because the company could make and import plywood from overseas for about 60% of what it costs to make it locally.

He said several things had brought the situation to a head.

“A little bit of it is the cost of power, but not all of it. A little bit is cost of primary products, but not all of it. And a little bit is our own reluctance to go and diversify,” he said.

Petley said the town needed to move away from being a timber town to survive.

He said while the Government had offered some support for people affected by the closures, more “high-level” plans were needed for the regions.

“It’s easy for them to suggest, you know, ‘we’re going to announce that we’re going to spend $70 million on tourism for concerts and sports events in Auckland’ – it doesn’t help our community and those communities like ours that are suffering because of processing plant closures.”

Middlemiss agreed and said he believed a plan was needed to turn closing factories into sites producing products for the future, such as wood pellets. But that would take investment.

“It’s all about money - money, money, money,” he said.

It is understood that if the company closes the plant, redundancies will take effect in November.

– RNZ