Tonga is looking for ways to increase its agricultural trade of fresh produce to overseas markets. The availability and cost of shipping has long been a key issue impacting the trade. Irregular shipping intervals is one of the problems, says Tonga Market Access Working Group Pousima Afeaki

Stakeholders from Tonga’s agriculture sector, government, shipping providers and development partners held a workshop on 12 October, to find cost effective solutions and actions to address shipping constraints faced by the agricultural export sector.

The workshop was organized by the Tonga Market Access Working Group (Tonga MAWG), in collaboration with the Australia and New Zealand supported Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access Plus (PHAMA Plus) Program.

It aimed to help maintain Tonga’s agricultural trade with key markets such as Australia and New Zealand and to help Tonga ‘navigate’ new viable export pathways.

Pousima said that sharing and understanding the knowledge gaps in shipping and its related issues, will allow them to solve the issues impacting exports of agricultural supplies from Tonga to its key markets.

“This workshop provided a platform to collectively obtain feedback, advice and support from the key stakeholders on the action items, activities and proposed interventions to address the issues of irregular shipping intervals from Tonga to NZ and support the re-establishment of the port-to-port shipping connections from Tonga to the Australian East Coast.”

As of December 2021, there were no longer direct (port to port) connections from Nuku’alofa to the major Australian East Coast ports (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane).

Not only that, the schedule helpful to achieving scale for New Zealand bound watermelon volumes from Tonga, remained elusive.

Study commissioned

In December 2021, the Tonga MAWG with the support of PHAMA Plus commissioned a study to investigate possible solutions to address these constraints to Tonga’s agricultural trade, to provide recommendations on actions to be taken by industry, government, shipping providers and development partners.

PHAMA Plus Country Manager, Tevita Lautaha, said it is crucial for stakeholders in the shipping industry and the agricultural trade and exporting sector to work together to execute recommended solutions.

“The next step is to agree on possible interventions to take to address the shipping issues faced by the agricultural export sector and the development and formalizing of a workable agreement between all stakeholders and Government to drive a solution forward”, he said.

Ministry of Trade and Economic Development CEO, Mrs Distaquaine Tuihalamaka said that through working together they can develop and solve the issues.

“Shipping is a vital component of Tonga’s trade. This workshop is an opportunity for key stakeholders and industry representatives to share experiences and ideas solutions for this problem that has long plagued Tonga”, she said.