Five years on from a restructure that saw Juken NZ lay off half of the 200 people working at its mill at Matawhero — as it stopped production of plywood and laminated timber products because of a slowdown in the Japanese housing market, to focus on high-value solid wood products — the mill that has been the major player in wood processing here for the past three decades looks set for closure.

Juken’s Gisborne workforce was told this week that ongoing financial diffic