Ballance confirms big call at Mt Maunganui
Ballance Agri-Nutrients will stop making super single phosphate at Mt Maunganui later this year, with a net loss of 60 jobs.
Kelvin Wickham
However it remains committed to continuing use of the site and its strategic location near Port of Tauranga for nutrient storage and distribution, as well as the base for its national support office.
CEO Kelvin Wickham says it’s been a big call to end nearly 70 years of manufacturing in Mount Maunganui, but the changes are ultimately necessary to set the co-operative up well for the future.
“We recognise the significance of this change for our co-operative and impacted people, and we’ll be supporting them by offering any suitable redeployment opportunities at Ballance as well as career transition support,” he says.
Ballance first announced it was considering the change in April.
After reviewing feedback from impacted people, the initial proposal was modified to add two additional roles, and the timeline was extended to continue manufacturing for an additional three months.
While the rationale for ending manufacturing in Mount Maunganui remains valid, the extension gives more time to work through the transition and wind down the facilities, Wickham says.
“Our manufacturing facilities at the Mount require substantial investment to keep them operating reliably alongside increasing regulatory constraints.
“With an over capacity in New Zealand compared to the expected demand for this product, it is the right point in time for the co-operative to cease manufacturing at this location.”
He says the changes will make the co-op more agile in sourcing nutrients as well as finding new ways to provide value to its shareholders, exploring more blendable fertilisers and other densified phosphate products like triple super phosphate (TSP) and diammonium phosphate (DAP).
“We’re seeing much more efficient and effective use of nutrients delivering higher productivity off a much lighter footprint, and a big focus for the co-operative is supporting our 16,000 shareholders with the technology, products and services that support those aims,” he says.
“Nutrients remain a vital part of driving NZ’s economic prosperity through food and fibre exports, with around 41% of the country’s agricultural exports enabled by fertiliser.
“To maintain supply, we secure nutrients from multiple sources and will continue to manufacture phosphate and urea at our Invercargill and Taranaki sites as well as imported products from offshore.
“Our focus now is supporting our impacted people and working through the process of winding down and then decommissioning our Mount Maunganui manufacturing facilities.”
The co-op will now begin a process to wind down its manufacturing facilities, aiming to end manufacturing in the later part of this year.