VANUATU BIGGEST IMPORTER OF CANNED TUNA FROM SOLOMON ISLANDS
BY GEORGINA KEKEA
VANUATU is the biggest importer of canned tuna from Solomon Islands.
National Fisheries Development (NFD) Limited Managing Director, Frank Wickham
shared this information in a recent radio talkback show to mark World Tuna Day.
Wickham says the biggest export destination for SolTuna’s canned tuna is Vanuatu.
“Followed by Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the market is now open in New Zealand.
There is a big move now to promote and market in New Zealand and Australia. We
have containers going to Kiribati, Tuvalu with a few to Tonga and Marshall Islands.
The biggest of them all is Vanuatu”, Wickham said.
“Two years ago it was like more than 800,000 cartons a year. which means for every woman, man and child in the country, they consume one carton a year. So if you look at 48 tin cans in one carton, it is almost one can a week by every person in the country. So it is a big market in the Solomons”, Wickham continued.
He said there is also a big demand from Pacific Island communities in New Zealand and Australia for canned tuna from Solomon Islands.
NFD Limited and SolTuna are part of the TriMarine Global Group of companies.
Collectively, both NFD and SolTuna are locally managed and they provide huge employment opportunities to Solomon Islanders. To date, they employ close to 3,000people of which two-thirds are women.
Around 100,000 to 180,000 Metric Tons of tuna is caught in Solomon waters each
year and approximately 24 percent of catch is processed in Solomon Islands by NFD
and SolTuna.
National Fisheries Development (NFD) Limited Managing Director, Frank Wickham
shared this information in a recent radio talkback show to mark World Tuna Day.
Wickham says the biggest export destination for SolTuna’s canned tuna is Vanuatu.
“Followed by Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the market is now open in New Zealand.
There is a big move now to promote and market in New Zealand and Australia. We
have containers going to Kiribati, Tuvalu with a few to Tonga and Marshall Islands.
The biggest of them all is Vanuatu”, Wickham said.
He says domestically the consumption of tuna is growing annually making Solomon Islands one of the biggest canned tuna consumption per capita in the world.
“Two years ago it was like more than 800,000 cartons a year. which means for every woman, man and child in the country, they consume one carton a year. So if you look at 48 tin cans in one carton, it is almost one can a week by every person in the country. So it is a big market in the Solomons”, Wickham continued.
He said there is also a big demand from Pacific Island communities in New Zealand and Australia for canned tuna from Solomon Islands.
NFD Limited and SolTuna are part of the TriMarine Global Group of companies.
Collectively, both NFD and SolTuna are locally managed and they provide huge employment opportunities to Solomon Islanders. To date, they employ close to 3,000people of which two-thirds are women.
Under this integrated partnership NFD with its fishing fleets of purse seiners, long line and pole and line ships supplies tuna to SolTuna and in return SolTuna adds value to NFD’s catch.
Around 100,000 to 180,000 Metric Tons of tuna is caught in Solomon waters each
year and approximately 24 percent of catch is processed in Solomon Islands by NFD
and SolTuna.
ENDS///
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