Business

Pig industry is hopeful business will normalize soon

November 22, 2020 7:00 am

The Fiji Pig Farmers Association is hopeful that business will normalize soon.

President Simon Cole says there is hope as they’ve received several requests from China to export pork.

He adds the industry received a massive demand due to the widespread African swine fever crippling China’s pig industry.

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”We tried 1,000 tonnes of pork and if that works that we’ll take 5,000 tonnes a month. And we have to go back to them and said we are so sorry we produce about 2,500 tonnes as it is in a year and we ate most of that here.”

Cole highlighted the Association is working closely with relevant stakeholders to keep farmers informed about the opportunity.

“So just the scale of China in this was phenomenal. I think some of our farmers are still looking to see if they can sell process products through to China and we will resolve that. I think them working with Investment Fiji to facilitate this opportunity.”

However, Cole says if borders are open Fiji can expect tourism to bounce back hence, putting more pressure on the industry.

He is urging farmers to boost the scale of pig farming to meet the ever-increasing demand from local and potential international markets.