Trade Winds

Mixed Fortune For Ship Line

THE CHIEF executive of the Pacific Forum Shipping Line, Mr John Mc- Lennan, announced an operating profit for 1986, but warned of serious problems ahead for the Line. He told the Forum Li ne’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in Suva that there had been a profit of $707,000 in 1986, but said a loss of more than $BOO,OOO was predicted for this year. He said that the island governments which jointly owned the shipping line would have to give thought to protecting their investment, as the company could not sustain financial losses for long. Mr McLennan said the projected losses were due in part to in tense competition from big container ship companies which had moved in on the Australia-Fiji trade. He said another prob lem was the sharp drop in the amount of cargo being carried from Fiji to Australia and New Zealand, following the recent military coup in Fiji. The shipping line’s main problem was that there was little outward cargo to be carried from the is land countries, which the line was founded to serve. But major trans-Pacific con tainer liners needed only to make a small diversion to Suva to skim off the cream of the trade that had originally made the Forum Line viable.

Fiji Army Goes Commercial

THE FIJI Army said it had been au thorised by the GovemorGeneral, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, to begin commercial ven tures as a means of reducing severe strains on the Government budget. The Army Construction Battalion will undertake work in regions not easily accessible to commercial interests. It will also accept some Government contracts. The Army’s small naval squadron will undertake com mercial fishing, while the Fiji National Marketing Authority will give the Army advice on the production and marketing of cash crops.

Ec Loan To Png

PAPUA NEW Guinea received more than K4B million from the European Community, under the Lome Conven tion’s Stabex scheme. The money was in the form of an interest-free loan to com pensate for shortfalls in Papua New Guin ea’s exports of agricultural commodities to the EC countries. The commodities in clude coconut, cocoa coffee and oil-palm.

The money will also be used in promoting agricultural and rural development proj ects. These will include the Poliamba oil palm and coconut projects in New Ire land, and the East New Britain small holder cocoa and coconut projects. Some KlOmillion from the EC’s allocation will be directed to the Agricultural Bank, for

lending to village farmers, fishermen and small-scale forestry projects. The Govern ment will repay the interest-free loan to the EC over a seven-year period, following the first two-year grace period. Cabinet has decided to channel the Stabex fund direct into the government’s agricultural invest ment programs rather than put the money into consolidated revenue, as previous governments had done.

Boat & Food Trade Show Success

THE SOUTH Pacific Trade Commis sion successfully exhibited Pacific island products at the 1987 Sydney Boat Show and Sydney’s Fine Foods ’B7 Food and Beverage Exhibition. For the first time the Trade Commission entered the Boat Show with participants from South Seas Yacht ing Pty Ltd and K W International (Tonga) Pty Ltd exhibiting their marine craft at the Kingdom ofTonga stand. Surf skis, dingh ies, 4.5 metre runabouts and photographic material were on display over the five-day period. All products on display were sold on the first day and orders were taken for surf skis, surfboards, dinghies, oars, yachts and related products from new Tongan companies, with estimated orders worth SAI million for next year.

At Fine Foods ’B7, representatives from some 18 companies in the South Pacific region exhibited products to trade visi tors, resulting in total sales of approxi mately $A250,000 with over SA3 million contracted in the next 12 months. Prod ucts from Fiji, the Cook Islands, Western Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu were on display.

Chan Predicts Record Revenue

THE PAPUA New Guinea Govern ment’s revenue for the current year could be more than KlOOO million, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, Sir Julius Chan. He was reply ing to Opposition claims that the nation’s revenue for the year would fall short of the budgetted mark by K6O million. The Op position made the forecast following the release by the Bank of Papua New Guinea of budget revenue figures for the first quarter of 1987.

Png Banks Cut Lending Rates

TWO OF PNG’s six commercial banks reduced their lending rates. The Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation cut its indicator lending rates from 12.75 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The Westpac Bank cut its rates by half-a-percent to 12.5 per cent.

The PNG Government asked the com mercial banks to reduce their lending rates because of the tight liquidity situation in the country. Other commercial banks had

been in touch with the Reserve Bank of Papua New Guinea and were expected to announce similar rate reductions.

Australia-Fiji Trade Slump

TRADE between Australia and Fiji was well down, as the island nation struggled to regain normality after the military coup.

Official sources in Suva said trade figures for the period since the May coup were not yet available, but are expected to reflect the nation’s economic slump. After the coup, the economy was hit by Australian and New Zealand union bans on most trade with Fiji. The bans lasted two months.

Businessmen who deal with Australian companies expect trade to recover over the next two years. Australian Associated Press reported that imports into Fiji had been hit by the slump, but authorities said they believed the downturn was lessening.

Fiji’S S3M Fishing Boat Deal

THE FIJI Government shipyard in Suva was awarded a contract to build two 26-metre fishing vessels for Kiribati. The project is being funded by the European Economic Community. The two ships will cost about SA3 million and will be ready by the end of next year.

Japan Fisheries Agreement

THE SOUTH Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency is to invite Japan to talks about a major new fishing rights agreement. The approach follows a decision of the 15-na tion South Pacific Forum at its May meet ing in Western Samoa to enter talks with Japan as soon as possible. The aim would be to get a fishing treaty covering all mem bers of the Forum. The Fisheries Agency director, Mr Philip Mueller, said in Hon iara that the outcome of the proposed talks was not predictable, but they would be a huge challenge. He said no comparison could be made between talks with Japan and the fishing treaty signed this year be tween Pacific nations and the US.

Dovair Takes Off

VANUATU’S new domestic airline, Dovair, made an inaugural flight from Port Vila to the northern islands of Santo, Ambae, Pentecost and Malekula. Passen ger services to the southern islands began the day after. The airline planned to pro vide services to all islands with airfields, and also to nearby New Caledonia. Do vair is 60 per cent owned by Vanuatu busi nessman Mr Dinh Van Than, and 40 per cent by the Australian pilot and business man Mr Keith Barlow, who previously op erated a five-seater Commanche Piper aircraft. In addition to the Commanche Piper the airline is using two 12-seater Ex calibur Queenaire planes and one 10-seater Britten Norman Islander.