Rising New Zealand Dollar a threat for wood processing industry
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Wood processing company Winstone Pulp International says the rising New Zealand dollar is a major concern.
In July, the company decided to close its mill in Gisborne with a loss of 60 jobs, but a week later agreed to keep it operating with a third of the staff.
Managing director David Anderson blamed the high value of the dollar for the mill losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.
Mr Anderson says since then, the dollar's strengthened even further.
He says Winstone Pulp International's customers in the United States who buy dried sawn timber are really hurting, and its plants are only working to a fraction of capacity.
At 5.20pm on Tuesday - Aug. 25, 2009, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US68.55 cents.
Copyright:Issued by: Radio NewZealand News
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Issue date: August 25, 2009
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