{"id":32605,"date":"2026-02-12T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=32605"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:30:08","slug":"hello-asia-pentarch-deepens-nz-ties-with-woodchip-joint-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/hello-asia-pentarch-deepens-nz-ties-with-woodchip-joint-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello Asia: Pentarch Deepens NZ Ties with Woodchip Joint Venture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pentarch Forestry has strengthened its position in the New Zealand woodchip market after it acquired a 30% stake in Marusumi Whangarei Limited. The latest acquisition, which will see Nippon Paper Resources Australia take 70% of the business later this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/akd-to-fully-acquire-highland-pine-products-from-pentarch-forestry\/\">comes after Pentarch sold out of its interest in NSW-based Highland Pine Products<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/resource-drain-leaves-victoria-far-more-exposed-to-bushfire-than-black-summer\/\">Swifts Creek mill in Victoria<\/a>, before moving to acquire <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/pentarch-buys-superior-wood-in-major-pivot-to-softwood-mouldings\/\">Superior Wood in Queensland <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/pentarch-emerges-as-new-white-knight-for-akds-yarram-sawmill\/\">stepping in as a white knight for the former AKD mill in Yarram, Victoria<\/a>. At the same time, it is negotiating with the NSW government over its hardwood contract on the Mid-North Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the terms of the agreement, the company will be rebranded as <em>NP Wood Fibre Company Limited<\/em> and operated as a formal joint venture between the two partners. And for Nippon Paper, the move represents a major step in its long-running effort to diversify procurement and secure a stable softwood supply for the Japanese pulp and paper sector, while also looking further abroad for new markets across Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NP Wood Fibre exported more than 220,000 GMT of radiata pine last year<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p>Marusumi Whangarei, founded in 1995 as a joint venture between Marusumi Paper and Marubeni Corporation, has been a key supplier of softwood chips to Japan for decades. Its Whangarei operation includes a chip mill and port\u2011side handling facilities, and Marusumi Paper exported more than 220,000 GMT of radiata pine chips last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNP Wood Fibre Company Limited will operate a major New Zealand softwood chip production and export business, leveraging the country\u2019s abundant forest resources and positioning itself to meet the anticipated growth in global demand for softwood chips,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nipponpapergroup.com\/english\/news\/year\/2026\/news260206006065.html\">Nippon Paper said in a statement last week<\/a>. \u201cFor NPI, the transaction supports the diversification of procurement sources and the establishment of a stable supply of softwood resources for the Japanese market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In collaboration with Pentarch Forestry, NP Wood Fibre will also market softwood chips across the Asian market, thereby enhancing the revenue potential of the Nippon Paper Group\u2019s timber-related businesses. Furthermore, NP Wood Fibre will combine the Nippon Paper Group&#8217;s expertise in hardwood plantation management, woodchip production and export operations in Brazil and Australia with Pentarch Forestry&#8217;s capabilities across lumber, woodchip and other timber-related businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wood Central understands that NP Wood Fibre will continue operating in the Whangarei area of New Zealand&#8217;s Northland region, retain its current staff, and maintain its focus on producing and exporting radiata pine chips for pulp and paper manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pentarch Forestry has strengthened its position in the New Zealand woodchip market after it acquired a 30% stake in Marusumi Whangarei Limited. The latest acquisition, which will see Nippon Paper Resources Australia take 70% of the business later this month, comes after Pentarch sold out of its interest in NSW-based Highland Pine Products and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"default","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[52,32,46,114],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-32605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-asia","8":"category-global-news","9":"category-industry","10":"category-new-zealand"},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jason","display_name":"Jason Ross","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32608,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32605\/revisions\/32608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32605"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=32605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}