Backpackers Zachary Salerno and Yuan Liang worked on the production line in the Cloud Ocean water bottling plant and are speaking out about their experience. (Video first published in August 2019)

A controversial Christchurch water bottling operation aiming to undercut China's premium water market is in "growth mode" after months on ice.

Cloud Ocean Water mothballed its Belfast bottling plant in September due to "challenging market conditions and working capital constraints".

It is now advertising for new jobs, including a logistics officer, a health and safety co-ordinator, and a senior public relations manager.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Cloud Ocean Water is hiring more staff and is in "growth mode".

It comes as the company and its director, Feng Liang, face charges from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) over allegedly attempting to possess 20 kilograms of unauthorised pickles and providing false information to officials about it.

READ MORE:

* Cloud Ocean proposes mothballing Christchurch water bottling plant

* Cloud Ocean delivers bad news to workers by email

The company says it does not know how the bag of pickles ended up in a piece of imported machinery.

John Kirk-Anderson/Stuff Workers leave the Cloud Ocean site in Belfast, Christchurch, after the company announced it proposed cutting 125 jobs in September.

A Cloud Ocean Water spokeswoman said production had been mothballed in September with the view to reopen in 2020, and this remained the case.

The job listings, which were listed on website Seek on Wednesday, say the company is in "growth mode".

About 125 staff were told by email that they had lost their jobs when Cloud Ocean Water hit pause in September. They were represented by union E tū, which previously described Cloud Ocean Water as difficult and labelled its working conditions as "unacceptable" for New Zealand.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Cloud Ocean Water has consent to take up to 1.5 billion litres a year.

Union organiser Phil Knight said the union managed to negotiate a collective agreement just days before it closed, and if the company began re-employing, it would be obliged to offer those terms and conditions for the first 30 days.

Most workers who lost their jobs had found new ones. Knight said the union normally tried to have former staff be given preference when a company rehired, but it did not bother in Cloud Ocean's case.

"Most people said that going back would be the last thing they would want to do with everything that had gone on."

AMANDA CROPP/STUFF Cloud Ocean water bottles were found to be selling for as little as NZ 55 cents in China.

Cloud Ocean took over a water consent originally held by a local wool scouring business, allowing it to take 1.5 billion litres a year. It was granted by regional council Environment Canterbury.

Aotearoa Water Action (AWA) legally challenged the consenting process, presenting its case to the High Court in December. A final decision has yet to be released.

AWA spokesman Peter Richardson said the group was disappointed it appeared water bottling would start up again, but they "always knew any respite would be temporary".

DAVID WALKER/STUFF The Cloud Ocean Water bottling plant in Belfast.

The public relations job listing showed the company was making a major push to make its business seem benign and worthwhile, he said.

Cloud Ocean Water's website says it has invested $60 million in the Belfast site.

It had plans for a major expansion at a new site a few hundred metres away, gaining consent from the city council in March. Cloud Ocean Water did not respond to questions about this.

The company and Liang are scheduled to appear in the Christchurch District Court on February 24. MPI alleges they knowingly tried to possess unauthorised goods (20.6kg of "pickled plant material") between March 18 and April 24, 2019, and gave false information about this to an MPI official in a letter on May 6.

The maximum penalty the company could face is a fine up to $200,000, while Liang could be imprisoned for up to five years and/or fined up to $100,000.

The Cloud Ocean Water spokeswoman said the company had "fully cooperated with MPI following the discovery of a bag of pickles in an imported piece of machinery early last year".

"Cloud Ocean Water has no knowledge of how this material ended up in the machinery."

An MPI spokeswoman confirmed Liang and the company had been charged but would not comment further.

Cloud Ocean Water was targeting the premium water market in China, likening itself to Evian water from the French Alps, but at a lower cost. In September it was found to be selling in China for as little as 55 cents a bottle.

*Comments on this article have now closed.