Bremworth moves some production overseas to ensure supply after its Napier factory was hit by Cyclone Gabrielle

Wool carpet maker Bremworth has moved some of its production overseas as it repairs its flood damaged Napier factory.

Chief executive Greg Smith said Cyclone Gabrielle had exposed the risk of producing much of its yarn and all ofits dyed fiber from a single factory.

Trials were being run at six overseas factories including in the UK, India and Denmark, to test if those manufacturers could meet Bremworth's quality standards, Smith said.

"We'll export New Zealand wool fibre that will be made into yarn at one of the plants, [it will then be] sent back to New Zealand and tufted into carpet at our Papatoetoe plant," he said.

Depending on their expertise, the foreign factories would process different types of wool spun yarn in different colours and to different specifications for 10 lines of Bremworth product, he said.

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Smith said the Napier plant was identified as a tsunami risk in 2021, and planning had been underway to spread the risk.

An initial $20 million insurance payout allowed the company to put some of its outsourcing plans in place, he said.

The company had over $16m worth of finished carpet inventory on hand to service the market while new suppliers were found, he said.

Staff at the Napier plant were all back at work cleaning the factory, he said.

They had removed silt and biological waste under "trying circumstances" in four-hour shifts, and would now begin steam cleaning equipment, he said.

"We have significant business interruption insurance to support them as we go through this initial cleanup phase," he said.

Smith said he did not know when the plant would be up and running again. It was still being assessed by insurers to determine further payouts.

"It takes eight to 12 months to build a house, the Napier facility is 8000m²," he said.

Moving some manufacturing overseas would not necessarily drive up carpet prices, and would have benefits, Smith said.

Adding foreign manufacturing capacity might allow the company to compete for big contracts, such as residential apartments or government developments for which it did not previously have the scale, he said.

"If we are able to receive yarn unconstrained we can participate in some of those other revenue streams, opportunities and geographies that previously we've said no to," Smith said.

The company would receive further insurance payouts as insurers determined how much it would cost to replace machinery, he said.