Industrialisation in Fiji: Industrial structure and organisation

This paper analyses the significance, structure, and organisation of the manufacturing sector in Fiji, drawing on the author's earlier much larger study of industrialisation in Fiji. The latest Fijian census of industrial production (1984) and the author's 1983 survey of manufacturers in Fiji provide the main statistical basis of the study, which shows that the manufacturing sector is a moderately important component of the Fijian economy. It is dominated by resource industries, particularly food processing, but a wide range of manufacturing activities have, nonetheless, developed. There is a substantial number of small manufacturing establishments with a few large establishments, the latter, however, making an overwhelmingly important contribution to employment, gross output and value added. The market structure in the manufacturing sector is dominated by monopolies and oligopolies resulting from Fiji's small domestic market and its import substitution industrialisation strategy. There is an absence of informal sector activities in Fijian manufacturing, most firms being incorporated companies. The state has a major role as a direct producer in Fijian manufacturing. There are bound to be major changes in the manufacturing sector due to Fiji's current political crisis, but this paper does not address these because of the recency of the events and the consequent unavailability of relevant data.