A little more than a decade ago Rotorua's Waipa Mill was at the brink of closure, but $140 million later it is now Red Stag and the Southern Hemisphere's first "super mill".
Prime Minister Bill English was at the Red Stag mill at Waipa today to officially open the mill's new processing plant which has been operating for several months already.
He was welcomed by the mill's general manager Tim Rigter and board chairman Marty Verry who took him on a tour of the mill before he unveiled a plaque commemorating the occasion.
More than 250 people, mostly Red Stag staff, were at the opening, including Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick and district councillors, Rotorua MP Todd McClay and local business people.
Mr Rigter said the mill now employed 370 fulltime staff, not including contractors and suppliers, and was now a world class timber processing plant.
Image 1 of 12: Bill English talks with Derek Nukunuku at Red Stag Waipa Mill's timber processing plant. Photo/Ben Fraser
"About 15 years ago one option was to close the site ... But the board has invested over $140m in plant and technology to make it the Southern Hemisphere's first 'super mill'."
A "super-mill" is a sawmill that processes more than one million tonnes of logs per year.
Mr Verry, who along with his late brother Phil Verry bought the site in 2003 and spurred it back into life, said it was a milestone day for the New Zealand timber industry.
He said when they took over they had no market share in the New Zealand structural timber industry, but now were competing with the likes of Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher's and now supplied about 25 per cent of timber for domestic construction.
In the next few years he said they hoped to bring that up to 40-45 per cent.
"We will be bringing on sufficient timber volume in the next year or two to meet the market demand. It's going to become very competitive as the demand slopes off in the medium term," Mr Verry said.
Prime Minister Bill English in Rotorua.
Posted by Rotorua Daily Post on Wednesday, 22 March 2017
The building was constructed by Hawkins in 2015 and the new plant was installed during 2016 and has recently passed commissioning tests and is fully operational, cutting at a rate of 550,000 cubic metres of timber annually.
Mr English said he would not have been at the opening if it was not for "the vision and almost unreasonable optimism of the Verry family".
"This is a nationally significant investment" and showed great confidence in the country's continued economic prosperity, he said.
Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson, the Rotorua Lakes Council's economic development portfolio leader, said it was great to see the mill's owners had the confidence to invest in Rotorua, keeping the mill open and adding to its capacity.
"It's a fantastic addition to the timber industry here and is an extremely efficient and modern piece of infrastructure," Mr Donaldson said.
Red Stag's Waipa Timber Mill
- Bought by the Verry family in 2003 while in receivership
- More than $140m has been invested into the site
- Is now the Southern Hemisphere's first "super mill" processing more than one million tonnes of logs annually
- Employs 370 fulltime staff
- The number of sawmills in New Zealand decreased from 101 in 2003 to 53 in 2016