Trends and opportunities
The market
Australia continues to expand its exports in consumer goods to Fiji. Items exported include:
- Clothing - both brand new and second-hand suitable for tropical climates
- Footwear - safety, ladies, men’s and children
- Household items - cutlery, cooking utensils, plastic ware products, air fresheners, and car care products
- Electrical household/whitegoods - lamps, cooking and catering utensils, fridges, stoves, fans, radios, videos
- Domestic/office furniture - blinds, chairs, cushions, tables, trays
- Books - educational, entertainment, religious
- Stationery - paper, pens, paints and other painting accessories
- Toys, games and sports requisites, parts and accessories
- Sporting goods - balls, nets, shoes, jerseys
- Jewellery - genuine stones, imitation and fashionable
- Cosmetics - perfumes and eau de toilette, colour cosmetics, skincare and hair care products
- Health, medical and pharmaceutical supplies
- Textiles - woven fabric (yarn of combed wool, metal thread, unbleached cotton), Terry fabric (knitted or crocheted), non-woven special yarns and synthetic woven fabrics (unbleached or bleached)
There are a number of advantages for Australian exporters in this sector, including:
- Proximity and frequency in flights and cargo vessels (although transport costs can be high)
- Great market for new exporters, small orders suit customers to trial market prior to repeat business
- Receptive market for Australian goods and services
- By selling to Fiji – your products can be regionally marketed to other neighbouring islands such as Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu and Kiribati
Opportunities
Opportunities vary from the top end of the market catering for expatriates, to retail stores including supermarkets and variety stores that service the average consumer with products, price ranges and choices aimed at the lower to middle income buyers.
Clothing, footwear and accessories
There is growing interest from the youth market for mid-range priced clothing, footwear and accessories from Australia ranging from casual to formal wear. There is also a growing market for career women.
Department stores and airport boutique stores such as Tappoos, Prouds, Jack’s Handicrafts and SOGO’s continue to sell premium brands sporting goods and equipment. Suva Central will also have a number of outlets catering for quality clothing, footwear and accessories.
Some good opportunities exist for second-hand clothing, equipment and accessories.
Cosmetics, body and baby care products
There are opportunities for various cosmetics and body care products in the lower to mid price range targeting the increasing numbers of career women. There are a few companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Tender Care but consumers are always on the look out for better pricing.
Health, medical and pharmaceutical supplies
Australian standards are widely accepted for medical and pharmaceutical supplies. Australian manufactured drugs and pharmacy line items are found in many pharmacies, chemists and drugstores in the market.
Fiji’s Government Pharmacy supplies pharmaceuticals to other Pacific Islands and annual tenders are called by Fiji’s Government Supplies Department, the purchasing arm of the government, for bulk drug supply. A number of Australian exporters supply to this tender through their partners here in Fiji.
Household, electrical items
Many known brands such as Westinghouse, Hoover, Chef, Dishlex, Simpson and Kelvinator are types of electrical items, stainless steel products for restaurants/kitchens, fridges, cool rooms, freezers, washers and fridges in the market.
Many suppliers enter the market by selling to local agents and distributors or selling direct to major retailers. Fiji’s system use is 240 volts, 60 cycles AC. Electrical outlets take the three pronged, angled configuration plugs used in Australia.
Textiles
Australia is the largest supplier of textiles to the garment industry in Fiji. Opportunities exist in the supply of textiles to the garment industry, which specialises in cut, make and trim (CMT) of garments for re-export.
The majority of textiles exported from Australia are suit material, knitted fabric and work wear cloth. Textiles not imported under CMT arrangements are normally priced CIF/FOB on metre lengths.
Competitive environment
Australian textile suppliers must recognise the potential threat to their position coming from aggressive price based competition. Suppliers in Asia and South Asia such as China, Taiwan, Pakistan and India, have started to market to the industry. China and Taiwan have quickly become significant exporters of fabric to Fiji, along with New Zealand. |