29 Mar 2017

Fiji kava exporter calls for price regulation

10:15 am on 29 March 2017

A Fiji kava exporter is calling on government to regulate skyrocketing kava prices.

This comes after Cyclone Winston destroyed most of the country's kava crop last year and was followed by regular flooding giving farmers a hard time.

The Fiji kava council earlier this month said some markets had stopped selling kava and where it was available it was being sold for more than $US40 a kilogram which was described as a 76 percent increase.

Fiji kava exporter Snehal Morris of Bilo Sinai Kava said if nothing was done to control kava prices in the country, businesses like hers would lose access to overseas markets.

"We need to look at how we kind of manage the industry properly. I really have strong fears that if we don't manage kava prices well right now."

"We are going to lose quite a bit of our kava exports into markets. Because a lot of markets are simply not going to be able to afford it."