Fiji Copra Price
p. 28 · Read in the full issue
Sharp Protest by Chamber of Commerce
Prom Our Own Correspondent
T™ „ Suva, Feb. 2.
HE Suva Chamber of Commerce has sent a sharp protest to the Govern ment, on the grounds that while all copra produced in Fiji is compulsorily sold to the British Ministry of Food at about £42 a ton f.0.b., (United States prices go as high is £7O a ton), con sumers in Fiji have to pay unduly high prices for imported goods from sterling area countries.
When the protest was being discussed, Mr. John Trotter (Burns, Philp, (SS) Ltd.) pointed out that Fiji pays £46 a ton over the domestic price of Soap and an extra shilling on butter. On a recent invoice of £2,000 for cotton goods, an additional £4OO had been added on by Australia.
If Fiji received the San Francisco price for copra, it would mean nearly £750,000 per annum to the Colony said Mr.
Trotter. That sum could be used to cut the rising cost of living.