Grace Road has begun a strategic pivot toward locally sourced food and increased on‑island processing to shield its supply chain and Fiji’s food security from disruptions tied to the escalating war in the Middle East, company president Daniel Jung Yong Kim said this week. The company is already expanding its food‑processing capacity and has a major project underway: a juice factory that will use locally grown produce and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“This year, we are stepping up more food processing,” Mr Kim said, describing the move as part of a broader effort to counter inflation and reduce reliance on imports. The planned facility will manufacture juice for the domestic market, marking a departure from Grace Road’s previous dependence on imported beverages and processed goods. The company currently imports a wide range of items — processed foods, beverages, cosmetics and hardware supplies — from South Korea, the United States, China, Vietnam and Australia.
Mr Kim framed the shift as a pragmatic response to rising global instability. He warned that the Middle East conflict is already inflating costs along the logistics chain, with freight rates increasing by more than 10 to 15 percent. “After this war, everything will be expensive,” he said, pointing to the direct pass‑through of higher shipping costs into local prices and margins.
The announcement comes as a backdrop to wider concern about Fiji’s import dependence. Earlier reporting from the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission highlighted vulnerability to higher oil and food prices because the nation imports all of its fuel; national fuel imports account for a significant share of the country’s import bill. Grace Road said its single largest import cost is fuel, and the company is investing in renewable energy to cut that exposure. “If we shift to renewable energy, it directly reduces fossil fuel imports, and whatever profit stays within the local economy is beneficial,” Mr Kim said, though he did not disclose specific technologies or timelines for the renewable projects.
The juice factory and other processing expansions could create new, steady demand for local growers — an important development for farmers seeking domestic buyers and export readiness. It aligns with recent government and industry initiatives to boost local production capacity, such as the new semi‑indoor dairy facility at Navuso Agricultural Technical Institute and capacity‑building programs for growers aiming to reach overseas markets. For smallholder producers, a local processor buying fruit and vegetables could offer more predictable off‑take than volatile export markets.
While Grace Road continues to source many finished goods from abroad, the company’s move signals a larger private‑sector response to supply‑chain fragility and inflationary pressure. Completion of the juice factory by year‑end will be a tangible test of whether increased local processing can meaningfully reduce import dependence and help stabilise food prices. Grace Road said it will step up other food processing initiatives in the coming months and is likely to provide further details as projects progress.
Leave a comment