Organisation to offer suitable redeployment opportunities, career transition support
Ballance Agri-Nutrients has confirmed the loss of 60 jobs as it proceeds with its proposal to shut down manufacturing operations at its Mount Maunganui site.
The net loss comes as the New Zealand farmer and grower owned co-operative cut 66 roles, while creating six new ones, according to its announcement.
"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," said Ballance CEO Kelvin Wickham in a statement.
The announcement follows a six-week consultation with employees, which resulted in the creation of two new roles and an extension of operations for three more months to give people time to work through the transition.
"The co-operative will now begin a process to wind down its manufacturing facilities, aiming to end manufacturing in the later part of this year," the company said in its media release.
The job losses stem from the company's decision to end its manufacturing of super single phosphate from its Mount Maunganui site due to increasing regulatory constraints and the "substantial investment" needed to maintain the operations there.
"With an overcapacity 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," Wickham said.
The changes will allow Ballance to have more agility in sourcing nutrients and providing value to its 16,000 shareholders, according to Wickham.
"Nutrients remain a vital part of driving New Zealand's economic prosperity through food and fibre exports, with around 41% of the country's agricultural exports enabled by fertiliser," he said. "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."
But Wickham said the co-operative remains committed to maintaining a process in Mount Maunganui for nutrient supply and distribution through the Port of Tauranga.
"Our focus now is supporting our impacted people and working through the process of winding down and then decommissioning our Mount Maunganui manufacturing facilities," he said.
