Fiji’s papaya marketers are predicting an eight-fold increase in export value this year, hitting a record FJ$6m (US$3.4m).
That figure is an 800 per cent growth on last year’s FJ$700,000 (US$397,250), reported local news agency Fijilive.
“Last year the total papaya exports from Fiji were 140 tonnes,” Rizwan Khan, a director of papaya exporter Pacific Harvest, told Fijilive.
“This year from January to May, the total exports are 285 tonnes. At this rate we are expecting total exports to be 1,100 tonnes for the year.”
Fiji’s exported papaya, also sometimes known as pawpaw in Australasia, largely heads to Australia, but is also finding demand in Hong Kong, Japan, Germany and New Zealand, in part because of improving logistical links out of Fiji.
