The announcement today by the Whakatāne Board Mill owners, SIG, that they are in negotiations with Smurfit and their partners to acquire the Mill has been welcomed by Toi EDA.

While the acquisition is not yet a completed deal, Toi EDA acknowledges the hard work undertaken by many parties locally and centrally to get to this point. Toi EDA welcomes Smurfit to the local community as one of the regions key employers and looks forward to working alongside them.

The certainty and confidence that this brings to not only the many employees on site, but also to local business owners, is excellent. Customers, suppliers and contractors to the packaging board mill can now begin to move forward with a greater degree of confidence, but Toi EDA recommends caution until the final acquisition has been announced.

New Zealand logs are still largely being exported to the global market as raw commodities, so securing the future of the value adding Whakatāne Mill is a great win for the region and country. However, Toi EDA encourages the government to do more to encourage investment in New Zealand. This may need to take the form of export controls, similar to stances taken by other leading forest producers such as Canada, Russia and United States. The strategic review of other mills in New Zealand remains a significant concern for Toi EDA.

Eastern Bay of Plenty plantation forests are in high demand and make up a significant part of the NZ harvest. With clean energy and easy access to local pulp and paper processing and timber mill
facilities Toi EDA is hopeful that the EBOP wood processing sector will continue to grow, despite growing competition from developing countries that actually import New Zealand logs to compete. For local growth to occur significant policy changes are required at the central government level.

Mayor Judy Turner says the announcement is encouraging. "We look forward to the interested parties coming to an arrangement that allows for a long term, sustainable, profitable and environmentally efficient solution for the mill. As a community we remain positive, solution-focussed and resilient."