New Zealand’s main malt supplier has announced it will close its Marton mill, leaving the district with one less employer and local growers, farmers and workers facing uncertain futures come September.
By Rebecca Hogan of Local Democracy Reporting
Rangitīkei mayor Andy Watson says the looming closure of Marton Maltings would leave families across the wider region without the long-term, stable employment the industry had once offered.
"Times are tough, you know, and it's another employer that we’ve lost."
The multinational malt supplier, Malteurop, currently supplied around 70% of the total malt market, including to key breweries such as Lion, DB and Asahi.
Its Marton branch, Marton Millings, had been home to the largest malting factory in Aotearoa since 2008, and would shut at the end of September.
It’s “not such a rosy picture” for grain farmers across the motū due to rising costs, Watson said.
The mayor said he was concerned about the impact this could have on local industries and the 14 workers at the mill.
As a governor of the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs New Zealand, Watson said he had begun looking for ways to support local people through this initiative if they needed employment due to the mill’s closure.
Watson hoped the closure could bring about new opportunities for the district but he said it was sad news.
Since the announcement, he said a handful of companies had approached him showing interest in the significant grain storage and production opportunities at the Marton site and he had passed this interest on to the appropriate people.
The closure of the Karioi Pulpmill and Tangiwai Sawmill in 2024 cut roughly 230 jobs across Rangitīkei and Ruapehu – jobs and connections many had nurtured for generations.
Staff at Tangiwai Sawmill and Karioi Pulpill were told of the decision this afternoon, Henry McMullen reports. (Source: 1News)
Malteurop’s main malt competitor, Canterbury-based Gladfield, hoped to pick up business from the closure and provide key breweries with malt, but acknowledged the country would become more reliant on imported malt through this closure.
An existing Malteurop site in Geelong, Australia had the ability to service the entire New Zealand market, so analysts had predicted big players would shift their attention across the Tasman while still getting some malt locally.
Malteurop was approached by Local Democracy Reporting for comment.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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