When the last squash ship left Nuku'alofa early this month for Japan it concluded the 2004 squash season. Tonga exported a total of 13,000 tonnes to Japan this year.

Halafihi, Tu'ifua, the senior Agricultural Officer at the Quarantine and Quality Management Division of the Ministry of Agriculture said that this year's squash export fell short of the Tonga Squash Council's targeted figure of 16,500 tonnes and was well below last year's total of 20,000 tonnes. The Tonga Squash Council has 15 members, all the licensed squash exporters for 2004.

Squash pumpkin is Tonga's main export product, which goes solely to Japan. The Japanese squash market is very volatile, last year the market was flooded with squash from Russia and China, and the Tongan growers experienced the lowest return ever from their squash of between 20 and 25 seniti per kilogram. The Tongan government at the end stepped in with a grant to help repay their loans.