annoys Fiji

Bad documentation annoys Fiji

Poor documentation, the effects of devaluation, the pros pects of Fiji-based food industries, the method of tariff assess ment . . . these were among the points raised by Fijian importers who spoke to PlM’s man in Suva, JOHN CARTER. He writes:

To a country like Fiji which exarted nearly £7,000,000 worth of aods in the first quarter of this year -about £l4 a head of the populaon—ships and cargo-carrying air- •aft are the country’s life-blood, ad if anything produces a thromosis in the arteries there’s hardship >r the people.

Of course, Fiji importers, like aporters everywhere have their umbles, and their main grumble poor documentation on the part of ainland exporters.

“The average manufacturer in New ealand has no knowledge whatever : documentation,” said one Fiji imarter. “Documentation is one of le major problems in Fiji. t4 — T 7-” . • The Fiji Goverrment is partialrly strict on documentation and me and again we find ourselves amstrung through bad documentaon ' “Most Australian companies are lirly well-skilled in this, and a lot f their companies tend to use export

houses that are fully experienced in documentation. The New Zealand manufacturers have a habit of deal ing direct with importers.”

A spokesman for Morris Hed strom’s was less kind to Australia.

“There are a lot of firms overseas whose documentation leaves nothing to be desired,” he said, “but there are an awful lot whose documentation is shocking, and that applies to both Australia and New Zealand.

“One fault with Australian export ers is that, in many cases, the goods arrive and the papers don’t. There’s absolutely no excuse for this. It holds up delivery ... and the result is a lot of inconvenience and unnecessary expense.”

Both spokesmen thought exporters dealt with orders fairly promptly, but Morris Hedstrom’s spokesman thought there was congestion on Aus tralian wharves which was lengthen ing the delivery period, “This means,” he said, “that if you have to maintain continuity of stocks

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SLOW CARGO TO NOUMEA. A new trade link between NZ and New Caledonia as been set back following the grounding of the island trader "Matipo" in New [?]aledonia (for details, see p. 97). This picture of her high and almost dry was taken in May by Mercier, ''Journal Caledonien".

you have to carry bigger stocks, which is what we don’t want to do.”

Devaluation has meant a set-back for Australian exports, and New Zea land and the United Kingdom appear to have reaped the benefit, but im porters warn New Zealand that they are in danger of losing their advan

ta£f- ,

J hey are simply not geared to in crease their exports to any great extent, said one importer. “Too many of Fiji s orders are being left on the wharves because cargo space hasn t increased with the trade.”

Almost all Fiji’s requirements in food and smallgoods are met by the Union Steam Ship Company’s ships which are refrigerated, and any dis advantage through the lack of re frigerated shipping from Australia lies with the Australian primary pro ducers and not the Fiji consumers, As Morris Hedstrom’s spokesman pointed out, there is often a glut of fruit in Australia, much of which would find a ready market in Fiji— except for bananas of course but there are no refrigerated ships to bring it.

But Fiji’s reliance on overseas sup pliers is lessening and the time is coming when she will be self-support

ing in many lines of goods. Already she is almost self-sufficient in beef and pork, and local manufacturers are setting up meat processing plants and turning out smallgoods which compare favourably with those from overseas and at lower prices.

One big grumble among importers, particularly those who still feel patiotic towards Great Britain, is the Fiji Customs’ method of assessing tariffs on the c.i.f. system, instead of f.o.b.

One of the patriotic types described the system as “traitorous sabotaging of the trade with the United King dom since 1949, giving the Australian manufacturers a long start in the race for trade.”

Fiji’s market is mainly for cheap products and the Australian manu facturers, he says, are equipped for this trade. Duties are preference duties at 25 per cent, plus 5 per cent, port and service tax and wharfage charges on the cost, insurance and freight charges, giving Australia all the start in the world.

In trouble

“Take motor vehicles, for exam ple,” he said. “The duty on freight alone on an Australian estate car is from £l2 to £l4. The duty on a similar vehicle from Britain for freight alone is £50.”

He hit at Australian manufactur ers. “In a lot of instances,” he said, “the Australian manufacturer has an agent to start with and before long the factory is taking orders for all and sundry. Then the manufac turer drops his agent who has built up the trade, but that is when he finds himself in trouble.

“There is a greater lack of integ rity among Australian manufacturers than anywhere else in the world so so far as his commitments are con cerned, and this lessens the chance of his getting a firm footing in an expanding market.”

Packaging is another sphere in which New Zealand falls down, say Fiji importers. Australia’s packaging is far superior to that of New Zea land, especially of goods which deter iorate under tropical conditions.

There are signs that Australian ex porters are becoming worried over prices and the news that New Zea land’s exports to Fiji rose in the first quarter of this year bv 45 per cent, will have come as a shock to them.

Some tentative feelers have already gone out from Australian exporters about prices, and Fiji importers will be getting word of adjustments, par ticularly where competition with New Zealand is keenest.

iod before planting helps the ►rough preparation of the soil re- Ted for the crop. However, a dry son is not essential.

Because a high temperature is :ded for the optimum growth of plant, cultivation is most success in tropical and sub-tropical ions. It need not be restricted to h regions, however. If the heat 1 sunshine are sufficient during greater part of the year, a cold iter does not matter because by time winter arrives the rhizomes 1 have been dug from the ground, 1 the bulk of them will have been pared for the market. (The re inder will have been stored for nting the following season). These iditions exist in Canton and in ts of Queensland where ginger is wn.

Main types

Dried ginger can be grown at ious altitudes. For instance, in ia it is grown in the low country 1 at heights of up to 4,000 to 30 ft in the Himalayas, exhaustive crop, ginger should grown in soil that is rich in plant d. However, if such soil is not sent, manures should be used. The nt will not succeed in land liable become water-logged, or in soil a gravelly or very sandy nature. ; land must be well-drained, for water collects the rhizome is •le to rot.

'hese are the main types of dried »er: . Jamaican ginger. Because of its cate odour and flavour, Jamaican ?er is considered to be better than

any other variety. It is clean peeled and is marketed in three grades— bold, medium (or No. 2) and small (or No. 3). Bold ginger consists of large, firm unwrinkled “hands” of a pale, uniform colour, and free from mildew. This high-grade ginger is in good demand from the grocery trade for sale unground; it is also used for distillation.

More pungent

2. Sierra Leone ginger. This is coated (unpeeled) and cannot be used for the grocery trade. Its flavour is somewhat camphoraceous, but it is more pungent and contains more essential oil than other types, and for this reason is much in demand for the extraction of oleoresin (gingerine) and for distillation. 3. Nigerian ginger. This resembles Jamaican ginger, but is of lower quality. Although it is peeled, it is not peeled as cleanly as Jamaican ginger; the producers often prefer to break the “hands” as this simplifies the process of peeling. This grade is known as “splits” and is of much lower market value than the Jamaican ginger, 4. Indian ginger. There are two types—Cochin and Calicut. It is sometimes coated, but more often rough peeled or scraped on the flattened sides of the rhizomes— there is no clean peeling in India.

Indian ginger is much used for blend

ing; it has a distinct lemon-like odour and flavour, more pronounced in the Calicut spice, and is preferred by manufacturers of ginger beer.

Planting. The land must be thoroughly hoed (or ploughed) and harrowed in order to produce a fine tilth. In planting large fields it would appear preferable to open up drills about 4 in. deep and 2 ft apart, much as is done in planting potatoes on a large scale. Artificial manure, such as superphosphate and bone meal, can then be placed at the bottom of the drill before planting.

In some parts of India it is usual to plant the crop in beds about 10 to 12 ft long and 3 to 4 ft wide in which sets are placed about 9 in.

The field is then covered with leaves or other green manure to keep the soil moist, and over the leaves organic manure is spread to a depth of about i in. At the end of the rainy season it is necessary to irrigate. During the first three months of the dry season the field is weeded about three times.

Ready for digging

Because the crop takes up such large quantities of plant food, a system of rotation should be adopted if possible. This is done in some parts of Jamaica, where much of the ginger is grown in small quantities as a garden plant, in association with bananas, chillies, etc.

Ratoon ginger matures early, and in Jamaica is harvested from March to December; but plant ginger is not ready for digging until December or January, the rhizomes being gathered

Ginger plant as harvested, showing rhizomes and leaves (left). Close-up of rhizomes (right).

s they mature from that time until larch.

The rhizomes are ready for dig ing when the stalks wither, which appens shortly after the disap earance of the flowers. In Jamaica le plant flowers during September.

The rhizomes are twisted out of le ground with a fork or a hoe. his must be done with great care nee any injury inflicted on the lizome depreciates the market value, onsiderable experience is needed > lift ginger rhizomes properly.

Preserved Ginger

The ginger from Canton—which made into preserved ginger—is lanted differently. Low-lying ground usually selected for the crop and le cuttings are set at intervals of in. in ridges about 1 ft high and ft apart. Water is kept continuously jtween the ridges. After the shoots ave reached a height of from 6 in. ► 1 ft, the Canton plants are [anured at frequent intervals with •ine or nightsoil mixed with water.

Curing dried ginger. Dried ginger comparatively simple to prepare, it a certain amount of skill is died for during peeling. The first aeration is to remove loosely ad ding earth from the freshly-dug dzomes and to soak them in water rernight. The cleaned “hands” are en carefully scraped or peeled with special knife—an operation both duous and time-consuming. It is aimed that a good worker can ean and peel no more than 10 to I lb of rhizomes per day.

Dried in the sun

In an attempt to find an alternative hand peeling, certain commercial idertakings have tried using achines fitted with abrasive rollers, ch as are used for peeling potatoes, owever, they don’t seem to have et with much success. Ginger lands” are an awkward shape for a achine to deal with—and only a in layer of outer skin has to be moved.

Rough or clumsy peeling lowers e value of ginger appreciably cause most of the oil-bearing cells e located close to the surface, just neath a thin, corky outer layer.

After peeling, the “hands” are ain washed in clean water and lowed to soak overnight. The more oroughly the “hands” are washed, z whiter the finished product.

The “hands” are then dried in the

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iun on a clean surface and are requently turned (to prevent the growth of moulds on the moist mderparts). Sun drying takes six to light days.

If, at this juncture, the ginger is lot considered white enough, it may >e bleached by further washing and Irying in the sun.

Dried ginger is usually packed in ute sacks, ranging in weight from he 112 lb African sack to the 200 b Jamaican sack.

Mould

Because dried ginger is susceptible 0 mould, the sacks of ginger should >e stored in a well-ventilated shed, f it has to be stored for a long time, he bags should be emptied occas onally, the ginger exposed to the sun or a short time, and then repacked.

Preparing preserved ginger. Ac :ording to one authority, the process n Hong Kong for preserving ginger s as follows: clean, peeled ginger s boiled in water for a few minutes md, when cool, is removed and )ricked with a fork so that sugar nay enter the ginger during the sub equent boiling in syrup (boiling asts for 45 minutes).

Packed in syrup

The syrup in which the ginger is >oiled is prepared by adding eight •arts by weight of sugar to 10 parts >f ginger and sufficient water to ;over. It is left in the syrup to soak or two days or more and is then eboiled, after which it is packed in resh syrup.

To prepare crystallised ginger, the irocess of boiling in syrup is taken 1 stage further—in stronger syrup, kfter soaking in this heavy syrup, he sugar-saturated product is re noved, drained, dried, mixed with ugar and finally packed in heavily oldered tins.