Chaudhry: SPF needs Govt’s help

February 25, 2009 09:24:20 AM

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Ailing fertilizer company, South Pacific Fertilizers needs the help of Fiji’s interim Government, says former interim Sugar Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The interim Government has already said though they have no intention of bailing out SPF, which faces a loss of $21m this year.

This loss, a result of selling subsidised fertiliser to farmers, could push the company into bankruptcy, another potential crisis faced by the sugar industry which is already in trouble with the loss of preferential sugar prices.

The shareholders of SPF include, the Sugar Cane Growers Council, Fiji Sugar Corporation and the Sugar Cane Growers Fund.

Chaudhry however said “SPF is in this state because they were asked by the government to subsidize fertilizers over the last 5 years and in the process they have eroded all the return earnings they could have made but they managed to keep the prices of fertilizer affordable.”

“I think this point has not been appreciated. We have made representations to the government that they assist SPF and I hope they will take heed because the company is barely surviving.

“SPF has not only helped the sugar industry but those farmers who plant cash crops. We cannot substitute the fertilizer that is made here, we cannot be bringing in imported product which is clearly outside the range that farmers can afford,” Chaudhry told FijiLive.

“It was a deliberate decision by the then directors to maintain the price, they were selling it at a loss and now someone has to compensate the company,” he added.

Fiji Sugar Commission chairman John May earlier said that bailing out SPF from it current financial mess will mean some tough decisions made by its three shareholders.