A rare tropical fruit juice manufactured only in the Marshall Islands by a single company has made its way to New Zealand.
Pandanus, known by Marshallese people as the “divine tree”, produces a seasonal fruit with an edible flesh that is cooked, dried or simply chewed on by locals.
Marshall Islands company, Robert Reimers Associates, has started extracting juice from the fruit to make what it calls kolomomor juice.
Iva Reimers-Roberto of Robert Reimers Associates brought pure pandanus juice to New Zealand as part of Pacific Islands Trade and Invest New Zealand trade mission.
Reimers-Roberto was one of six manufactures from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Niue, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Republic of Marshall Islands visiting Auckland to learn more about New Zealand and its import regulations and to showcase products to potential buyers.
Reimers-Roberto said Robert Reimers Associates was the only company in the world producing pandanus juice and it was not yet being exported.
The company could produce up to 3,000 bottles or about 1,000 litres of juice a month.
“Before we can talk about exporting we would like to improve our packaging and prolong the shelf life,” Reimers-Roberto said.
If kept at room temperature the juice lasted for about a day. The samples Reimers-Roberto brought New Zealand were frozen.
She said the juice would be marketed as a high-end product which would appeal to health conscious customers.
Pacific Islands Trade and Invest is the international trade and investment arm of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).
Pacific Islands Trade & Invest New Zealand trade and export services manager Teremoana Mato said there were 14 PIFS members, seven of which were small island states.
The five day mission, which ends on Friday, was the first to focus on small Pacific Island states, he said.
There had been a focus on food and beverage manufacturers because that was the strength of these countries.
Businesses selected for the mission were required to be export capable and have products ready to go to market.
Small island states faced many challenges including rising sea levels, shipping costs and distance to market.
“Pacific exporters fight to survive on a daily basis but their small size can be an advantage because owners know every step of production and closely monitor the quality of their products,” Mato said.
Cook Islands company Te Winery Extractors and Distillers was on the mission to promote its wines and liquors made from vanilla beans and fruit including banana and chilli wine and coconut, banana, vanilla passionfruit, and starfruit flavoured vodka.
“You name any fruit in the Cook Islands we'll distil that into vodka,” Te Winery owner and managing director Koteka Koteka said.
From the mission he hoped to gain information about freight and customs and bio security clearance so it could export to New Zealand.
Selling to New Zealand would help the company increase production and employ more people in the Cook Islands, he said.
Also on the mission was Niue Vanilla International managing director Stanley Kalauni.
His company exports organic vanilla products, working with 60 growers, farmers and community groups around Niue.
It sourced green vanilla beans which were sun-cured for up to five months before being processed into pure extract, paste or infused with coconut oil.
Kalauni said the main challenge with exporting from the Pacific Islands was the availability and cost of freight.
New Zealand was important for the company because it was the closest large market to Niue, he said.
“If we do well in New Zealand then we can do the same with other countries around the world.”
“New Zealand is a stepping stone for us,” said Kalauni.