End of manufacturing at Mount Maunganui site

Single super phosphate and sulphuric acid manufacturing at our Mount Maunganui plant ceased in November 2025.  

Why? 

After almost 70 years of manufacturing in Mount Maunganui, there were several key factors that informed this decision. The level of investment required to operate the plant reliably, increasing regulatory constraints and an over capacity supply compared with expected demand for the product were all key factors in deciding to cease manufacturing at the Mount site.  

Supporting our people 

This is a significant change for those impacted by this decision. We have offered a range of support including access to career and job-seeking support and have provided information sessions on a range of topics to support our people.  

We’ve also been able to redeploy some people and have temporarily retained others to support site transition and decommissioning work. 

For those leaving Ballance we acknowledge their contribution to manufacturing the vital nutrients that drive New Zealand’s economy through food and fibre exports.  

What will happen with the site? 

Most of this site is already used for product storage, mixing and distribution and our national support office. For the parts of our site that were used for manufacturing we are working to decommission the plant. 

Given the site’s key strategic location near the Port of Tauranga for nutrient storage and distribution, areas of the site that were used to store raw material for manufacturing will now store finished product ready for distribution to our network. 

While most of the site will continue to look the same, what will be noticeable is the two red and white striped chimney stacks on site will be removed. The first chimney stack has been removed, and planning is underway to remove the final chimney stack.  

Consented activity 

The Mount Maunganui site operates under several resource consents which include discharge to air, and stormwater/wastewater discharges to Tauranga Harbour. Now that manufacturing has ceased our only consented discharges to air relate to dust generation. 

We conduct continuous air quality monitoring for dust levels, often referred to as PM10 (PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometres or less in diameter) across our site and we are continually working to reduce dust generation.