Operations cease
14 staff members lose their jobs
AFTER 30 years of operations, Nadi Bay Herbs (NBH) has ceased its basil farming and export operations as a result of COVID-19 related impacts on its export markets.
Kyle Stice, current general manager for NBH said the closure of the agricultural based business had resulted in a redundancy of about 14 permanent staff members.
“As a result of this, we will cease growing basil for export to New Zealand.
“Without a customer and revenue we are forced to restructure the business resulting in the disestablishment of all the roles (positions, jobs) and the closing down of the business,” he said.
Mr Stice said since March this year, NBH had to close its domestic operations, which was hugely dependent on tourism, but NBH also faced significant challenges in exporting fresh basil despite their best efforts.
“Disruptions to airfreight linkages, increased cost, pests and contamination issues have caused significant disruption to supply, logistics and problems with exporting.”
He said NBH’s export customer had notified them of their decision to source its entire basil requirement from New Zealand.
“As of December 31, 2020, they will no longer require basil from NBH.
“This decision is primarily due to the increased risk and reliability of sourcing basil from Fiji under these COVID-19 conditions.”
Nadi Bay Herbs on average exports 4.8 tonnes of fresh basil to NZ on a monthly basis since March, 2020, which brought in around $48,000 per month into the country.