Samoa looks to boost trade with Australia

The Domestic Export commodities exported during the years 2012 /2012 are Taro Fresh ($1.7 million increased to $ 4 million), Beer Exports ($1.1 million increased to $3.4 million), Koko Samoa Products ($30 thousand increased to $ 60 thousand), and Water/ Agri-Processed Products ($100 thousand increased to $ 220 thousand)

The Samoa Association of Manufacturers & Exporters (S.A.M.E.) wants to replicate the success of the Buy Samoa Made-New Zealand export drive by conducting a similar drive in Australia this March.

“We want to achieve the same figures but Australia is a bigger market,” said President , Tagaloa Eddie Wilson.

“It’s a bigger market and therefore we should at least get the numbers we got from New Zealand.”

Tagaloa was speaking during a media conference held on Wednesday to publicise the Australia Show.

“We’ve succeeded in our exports of taro from three to five a month now to 15 containers a month to New Zealand,” he said.

“The reason why we believe the Australian drive is important is if the New Zealand market is exhausted (then there is another market).”

The trade show will be held March 23 and 24 at the Mecure Hotel and the Samoa Consular office at Liverpool, Sydney.

According to Tagaloa, the most sellable among all the products exported are Taro and beer, while Coconut cream, Coconut oil and Palusami are among the best products.

However, one of the issues being faced by the exporters right now is Australia’s ban of fresh taro to which Tagaloa share they have two ways of dealing with the ban.

Firstly, S.A.M.E, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the farmers are working with New Zealand and Australia to provide scientific evidence that there is no harm in our fresh taro, if that is successful then fresh taro will go there”.

The second thing, “we are pushing are frozen taro because there are no restrictions on it.”

With the opportunity opening up for Samoan products to be showcased in Australia Tagaloa also shared that they are pushing for a massive export of coconut cream.

“We used to export five million to six million a year in coconut cream, but the business that processed it went out but the there’s a new company doing coconut cream. There’s potential in the market for it to earn up to five million.”

In an information sheet produced by S.A.M.E, the New Zealand trade show held in November 2013 increased the total increase export of Samoa for the year 2014 significantly.

The total export of Samoa before the Buy Samoa Made-New Zealand campaign is estimated at $2.996 million.

The Domestic Export commodities exported during the years 2012 /2012 are Taro Fresh ($1.7 million increased to $ 4 million), Beer Exports ($1.1 million increased to $3.4 million), Koko Samoa Products ($30 thousand increased to $ 60 thousand), and Water/Agri-Processed Products ($100 thousand increased to $ 220 thousand).

The trade show also opened the market for Coconut cream, Palusami, and Coconut based products/body care which earned $560 thousand, $140 thousand, and $120 thousand respectively.

After the campaign, the total export of Samoa increased by 280 percent.

Among the objectives of the Australia drive is to increase awareness in Australia of Samoa goods & services that are available for export into the Australian market.

It aims to increase Samoa’s export of goods and services to Australia by at least 25 percent per annum over the next three years.

A permanent display will also be established in Sydney that will mirror the one already established at the Samoa House in Auckland, New Zealand.