A Christchurch carpet factory is winning customers back as it gets into full swing again under new owners.
Christchurch Yarns - a wool processing plant and the only one of its kind in the Southern hemisphere - went into receivership in April this year with the loss of 55 jobs.
However, it has been rescued by NZ Yarn, set up by Elders Primary Wool and farmer-owned Primary Wool Co-operative to buy the plant so that it could continue to process New Zealand grown wool.
The change of ownership was finalised last week. Elders Primary Wool has a majority shareholding of about 58 percent. The remaining 42 percent is held by independent investors and growers.
Elders Primary Wool chairman Stu Chapman is a director of NZ Yarn. He said since the sale went unconditional, the company had been getting very strong support from carpet-making customers placing orders again.
"I think the receivership issue has really scared some of these customers and the fact that, ultimately, it could put their whole wool carpet business in jeopardy, so we've had some very strong positive commitment from customers to bring a lot their yarn back to New Zealand Yarn.
"Given the fact it was in receivership and there was perhaps no definite result whether it was going to stay or not, a lot of these customers looked for alternative yarn spinning through Asia and they certainly realised the quality isn't the same and New Zealand Yarn will produce a far superior product - so it's been very positive."
