Fiji Times - Friday, April 09, 2010

REWA Dairy Cooperative Limited is working with relevant government departments towards finding alternative sources of dairy products.

The company imports dairy products from New Zealand and Australia.

Company chief executive officer Ratu Savenaca Seniloli said there was a constant demand for butter.

"If the import volume is available and the trading environment becomes friendly, the co-operative will endeavour to increase import orders," he said.

Ratu Savenaca said they were awaiting official word from the Prices and Incomes Board on the approved price that would reflect the landed price of butter and milk powder. Last week Ratu Savenaca said they were not producing any extra butter for the retail market. He said this was because of the under-trading the company had been doing for months.

Ratu Savenaca said the indication from their established supplier was that the prices were still firming, "even into the next quarter". "Since the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand and Australia is going into winter (dry season), there is more pressure to the supply side," Ratu Savenaca said.

"From an import reliant country, the only way to mitigate exposure to fluctuating world food prices and availability is to produce more of our own food."

Ratu Savenaca said people growing their own food was and should be the national aim.

"The co-operative, being a developing partner, utilises the margins gained from trading all the dairy lines to provide support measures to the local dairy industry," he said.

Ratu Savenaca explained that in the early 1990s, bulk suppliers contributed over 75 per cent of the local milk received at the factory and the balance from small holders. "There was only one rural chilling centre then. Now, there are five rural milk chilling centres and more small holders the small holders are now contributing over 45 per cent, and bulk suppliers' contribution has dropped significantly mainly due to the expiring and soon-to-expire land leases," he said.

Ratu Savenaca said State policy in the '90s to expand rural milk centres worked as the industry was able to maintain an annual supply of around 11,000,000 litres.