Red Stag ‘super mill’ ready to boost lumber output

IT’S ALREADY PRODUCING MORE TIMBER than any other saw mill in Australasia, and now Red Stag says it is ready to take production to a new level

The new $60 million Waipa ‘super mill’, built on the outskirts of Rotorua, was completed last year and has already lifted production from the old mill’s 450,000 cubic metre annual level to 550,000 metres this year.

With the commissioning stage now behind it, Red Stag has confirmed it is now planning to boost production numbers again, to hit 600,000 cubic metres next year.

Red Stag’s General Manager Tim Rigter says the “few tweaks” necessary to take the mill up to 600,000 cubic metres that he mentioned to NZ Logger in March will be in place in 2018, effectively putting it in the elite ‘super mill’ group.

A ‘super mill’ processes 1 million tonnes of logs a year and it will hit that level next year – current production utilises about 900,000 tonnes of logs a year. Red Stag will be the first ‘super mill’ in the Southern Hemisphere

The focus now, says Mr Rigter is to develop markets that can absorb the additional timber, both here in New Zealand, where 60% of its production is now sold, and overseas.

Mr Rigter says demand in New Zealand is expected to remain steady as new building meets the housing shortage, so the excess will likely go to export markets.

NZL