U.S.A is the largest positive balance of trade for Fiji, this means that Fiji exports more than it imports from the United States of America and has contributed a $227.8m surplus in 2017 to Fiji’s balance of trade.
This was revealed by Investment Fiji Manager Investment Kamal Chetty while presenting at the USA‑Pacific Islands Trade Seminar at USP this morning.
Chetty also highlighted that another relationship that can be further explored is tourism as the U.S is the third largest contributor to tourism arrivals in Fiji and is the second largest average tourist spender in Fiji.
He also revealed that in 2013‑2017 a total of 127 projects were registered with Investment Fiji from U.S traders worth $910m in the sectors of services, tourism and agriculture, indicating the great interest of U.S traders in these areas in Fiji.
Chetty says that in terms of exports from Fiji to the U.S a total of 153 exporters export their products to the U.S. adding that the U.S gets 26.8 percent of total exports that include products such as mineral water, sugar, tuna and kava.
He says that the U.S is the seventh largest country Fiji imports from contributing 2.9 percent of the total import value which is about $142m with major imports including car parts and motor vehicles.
Meanwhile U.S Assistant Trade Representative Edward Gresser says that Fiji remains to be one the top nations that the U.S imports from.
Gresser also highlighted that the U.S imports a total of $12.6m of Cane Sugar, $13.2m of Ginger and $1.4m of fresh or chilled Taro from Fiji in 2017.
He says that U.S exports from Fiji has increased by 72 percent from 2017‑2018.
