The Fijian government must approve a restructuring plan immediately if it is to save the country’s 120-year-old sugar industry from collapse within two years, a top executive warned today [Tuesday].
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The state-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation submitted a restructure plan to the government in October last year, after posting losses of 37m Fiji dollars (US$17.1m) in the last two years, but it has yet to be approved.
MD John McFadden explained to Dow Jones that the lack of response is largely down to the “incredible” politicisation of the industry.
He said that he envisaged splitting Fiji Sugar into four standalone enterprises, which would act as cooperatives and be owned by cane growers, sugar mill workers and indigenous Fijian landowners. The government would retain a small stake.
Sugar accounts for 7% of Fiji’s gross domestic product, and nearly 25% of its population depend on the industry.
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