Pacific Bark is located in Napier, the art deco capital of New Zealand. Pacific Bark is the manufacturer of bark based products for the Pacific Wide Group.
Pacific Bark was set up in 1998 after the sudden withdrawal of supply by Yates Granulated Bark Supplies who decided that the supply of specialised bark products for export was not a strategic part of their business. Yates had been a long time supplier of Orchid bark to Pacific Wide and continued supply until early in 1999. This was a somewhat traumatic time for the Group as Pacific Wide had a loyal and significant customer base and was in need of supply. However this did create an opportunity for the Group to set up a specialised operation concentrating soley on producing bark products for export.
The decision was made to locate to Napier due to the proximity of raw material located at the base of the Central Plateau of the North Island. It was also easily accessible to the Port of Napier who we initially leased the land from before purchasing in 2003.
Due to the rapid set up of Pacific Bark there were many trials and tribulations in implementing the process to provide consistent high quality product. With much patience from our customers, the operation has evolved into a substantial operation that processes consistent high quality products which has created growth in our export sales.
New Zealand has a large resource of commercially planted Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) trees and Pacific Bark has contracts with a number of selected mills to purchase bark which is stripped from logs before milling or from whole log exports. Only fresh bark is used for processing, no bark is sourced from old stockpiles which often have contamination.
A well documented 11 step production process unique in aging bark is the foundation of our products. Using Pinus Radiata as our base raw material this process creates our exclusive Orchiata which is used in the orchid industry for potting orchids. Pacific Bark is also capable of producing other high quality growing media for all forms of potting mixes or soil amendments. Pacific Bark in addition produces Decor bark from Pinus Radiata that is used as decoration for landscaping and pots.
In 2004 Pacific Bark embarked on a further building project which has tripled the plants output. These exciting developments have positioned Pacific Bark to take full advantage of the growth of the Pacific Wide Groups growth in sales of quality horticultural growing media.