Juken New Zealand

Juken New Zealand, formerly known as Juken Nissho is a Japanese-owned forestry company operating in New Zealand.

History

Juken Nissho was formed for the 1990 purchase of licences to run previously publicly owned forests covering nearly 600 km² of Northland, the Wairarapa and East Cape. It operates plants at Kaitaia, Masterton and Gisborne and employs around 1,000 New Zealanders largely as labourers.

At present Juken Nissho controls around 550 km² of Pinus radiata, Douglas-fir and Corsican pine. Juken New Zealand manufactures and markets timber panel products under the Triboard, Spaceboard and Strandboard brands. Triboard, conceived in the 1980s, competes with older technologies such as particleboard and MDF.[1][2]

In late March 2026, Juken New Zealand proposed closing its two timber mills in Kaitaia if it could not find a buyer. The Workers First Union deputy secretary Anita Rosentreter expressed concern that the proposed mill closures would lead to significant job losses in the town.[3] In early April 2026, Northland Member of Parliament Grant McCallum said that a group of investors were negotiating with Juken to purchase the two Kaitaia timber mills.[4]

In mid-July 2026, Juken New Zealand director Yasufumi Tsuchiya confirmed that its Northland wood veneer mill would be closed down by 21 August after failing to find a buyer for the mill. The closure of the Northland Mill is expected to affect 60 jobs, with workers being offered redeployment and re-training opportunities. Tsuchiya confirmed that Juken was in the process of negotiating the sale of its Triboard Mill in Northland, which employs 140 workers.[5]

Criticism

Juken Nissho states it has invested over $700 million New Zealand dollars in the country,[6] but has attracted criticism from unions and the political left for alleged pollution, for disregard of employees and for the funding arrangement by which the investment was made, (it was alleged the Japanese investors founded a limited liability company to buy New Zealand assets using the assets as the only security, without committing any capital or taking on any risk).[7][8] Juken Nissho was successfully prosecuted by the Northland Regional Council for discharge of contaminants into air in 1998 and won the Roger Award for The Worst Transnational Corporation in New Zealand in 2003,[9] however has since significantly reduced emissions, increased safety and made major efforts to become more environmentally friendly.[10] Juken has also had 20 health and safety convictions over the last two decades and has been sentenced again (2019) at the Kaitaia District Court, following an incident which saw a worker suffer serious steam burns. The previous incident in July 2017, also involved a steam related injury when a worker, who was replacing a heat probe inside an enclosed Triboard manufacturing press, was engulfed in hot steam.[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Juken Nissho Ltd Juken Nissho website Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  2. ↑ Juken Nissho Ltd Archived 2006-07-19 at the Wayback Machine Juken Nissho - company profile Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  3. ↑ de Graaf, Peter (31 March 2026). "Kaitaia timber mills may close with loss of hundreds of jobs". RNZ. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  4. ↑ Ling, Jenny (2 April 2026). "Kaitaia timber mill: Potential buyer emerges to save 200 jobs". The New Zealand Herald. Northern Advocate. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  5. ↑ Tswanya, Yolisa (15 July 2026). "Juken NZ confirms Northland mill shutdown after failed sale search". Northland Age. The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 15 July 2026. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "About Juken - JNL | Juken New Zealand". Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CAFCA an example of left wing criticism of Juken Nissho, Retrieved 29 December 2006
  8. ↑ Converge another example of left wing criticism of Juken Nissho Retrieved 29 December 2006
  9. ↑ Roger Award story Juken Nissho gets Roger Award, Retrieved 29 December 2006
  10. ↑ "NRC - Independent report on Juken Nissho Ltd air contaminants". Archived from the original on 29 September 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006. Northland Council Independent Report on Health Impacts of Juken Nissho] Far North District Council, post improvement air quality report Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  11. ↑ "Company with 20 previous health and safety convictions fined".
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