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Fiji Water sold; Tonga Banks on seaweed exports...
Fiji Water soldFiji Fiji Water has been sold by its founder, David Gilmour, a Canadian investor, to Roll International Corporation, a privately owned Los Angeles company that owns citrus, almond, pistachios, and pomegranate food businesses, a floral wire service, and Franklin Mint, a business that sells items to collectors. Fiji Water is the second foreign selling table water in the United States. Annual exports from Fiji to the United States and several other countries exceed F$35 million. Gilmour valued his investment in the water bottling factory near Rakiraki on the northeast of the main island of Viti Levu at F$80 million. .
Tonga banks on seaweed exportsThe export of seaweed is building up to be a significant money-earner for Tonga’s frail pumpkin exports dominated economy. Exports of Angel’s Hair seaweed to Japan, where it is used for food manufacturing, is estimated to have earned about US$3.1 million in 2004. Trial exports began in 1998 and the 2004 crop was expected to exceed 2000 tonnes. Europe and the United States are two potential markets. The 2004 squash pumpkin harvest, for which Japan is also the market, closed in November with the export of 13,000 tonnes, 3500 tonnes below target, but fetching better prices than in 2003 when a glut in Japan dropped prices so low that Tonga’s government had to intervene with financial aid for growers.
SPSE growth throttledFiji’s Capital Markets Development Authority says the growth of the Suva-located South Pacific Stock Exchange is being throttled by a shortage of available shares. In 2004, buy orders exceeded sell orders by an average of 75 to 9. It says the Fiji Government’s decision to sell shares it has in Fiji Television, Amalgamated Telecom Holdings, a telecom monopoly, and the Colonial National Bank will help ease the shortage.
Aloha halts flights to 2 destinationsAloha Airlines has halted flights from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands and American Samoa because the services were losing money.
PNG's cattle businessOne of Papua New Guinea’s largest agribusinesses, Trukai Industries, says the country is using only two-fifths of the 500,000 hectares of land it has for cattle grazing. This fact and the country’s comparative freedom from cattle industries gives it huge potential for building up the national herd, it says. Trukai sent the first shipment of 1500 live cattle to the Philippines in 2002.
Samoa's second mobile operatorSamoa’s second mobile operator Samoa’s government will relax its telecommunications policy to licence a second mobile phone operator to compete against the government and Telecom New Zealand-owned Telecom Samoa Cellular Limited service.
Vanuatu's offshore centre reviewConsultants are reviewing Vanuatu’s offshore finance centre to decide its value to the country’s economy. It employs about 400 local people and attracts several million dollars a year to the country in the way of investment, fees and other revenue. Apart from assessing the centre’s real value, the consultants will make recommendations for improving its reputation and volume of business attracted by it.
Aust pizza firm opens in FijiEagle Boys Pizza, an Australian fast food chain, has opened is first pizza place in Fiji, where it plans to open several others. It says it intends to franchise operators in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Air Raro's freighter service?Air Rarotonga is looking at possibly operating an air freighter service between the Cook Islands and New Zealand after complaints from exporters and importers that a smaller passenger jet now operated on the route by Air New Zealand has a general cargo allocation for them of only 500 kilogrammes.
Chinese firm to invest in Cooks' resortA Chinese company, Dalian Real Estate Development, is reported to be planning to invest in a US$5 million resort at Atiu in the Cook Islands with the first stage to be completed by September 2005.
Somare intervenes in PNG Telikom saga& Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has intervened in the ongoing Papua New Guinea Telikom saga. He has asked the Minister for State Enterprises and Information, Dr Puka Temu to reinstate the sacked Telikom Board. Somare also instructed that Martin Veisame be reinstated as the acting Managing Director of Telikom.
The Telikom board, led by private lawyer Dr Florian Gubon, was sacked on December 3 by Temu for failing to comply with government directives relating to the sale of Telikom.
The Prime Minister’s intervention came after close consultation with his advisors and a careful analysis of the recent developments surrounding the sale of PNG Telikom to Econet Wireless. Somare’s reaction to the crisis was guided by letters he received from the PNG Communications Workers’ Union calling for the reinstatement of the sacked Telikom board and the Telikom Employees’ resolutions contained in another letter dated 9th December 2004.
Air Pacific's competition devicesForeign low cost carriers have the capacity to crush competitions from the Pacific’s national airlines, Air Pacific has warned.
Because of this, the airline’s general manager strategic planning Manoa Kamikamica said Air Pacific has not sat on its laurels since low cost competitors Pacific Blue and Freedom Air began flying into Nadi in mid-2004. “We are just not sitting around worrying about the new competition,” Kamikamica told a national transport summit in Suva last month.
“Air Pacific has put in place certain strategies to cushion the adverse impact of Pacific Blue and also Freedom Air.” High on the list is cost management and the pursuit of “efficiency drivers.” An early casualty of this exercise is the putting on hold of the national airline’s $1.4 billion fleet upgrade. It is also monitoring its fare structure and intends to begin online ticket sales.
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