Fiji Water to leave Fiji? What!

Ladybug09

Ladybug09

So Sweet!
O.G.
Aug 2, 2007
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350
#1
I didn't know where to post this, but I love their water. The Artesian spring has a different taste to it.

Fiji Water to leave Fiji?

The L.A.-based bottled water company is threatening to close up shop in Fiji because the government plans to raise taxes.
Tue, Nov 30 2010 at 2:41 PM EST
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mnn.com/sites/default/files/fijiwater.jpg Photo: Mike Willis/Flickr
Fiji Water is going to stop operating in Fiji — at least according to the company’s latest statement. Apparently, the Fiji government is planning to raise taxes from one-third of a Fijian cent a liter to 15 Fijian cents (about 8 U.S. cents) a liter — a tax increase the L.A.-based company Fiji Water finds unacceptable.

According to LA Times, Fiji Water says it has “paid millions of dollars in duties and income taxes to the Fijian government” while the Fijian government says Fiji Water has “paid less that $600,000 in taxes to the country.” Now, Fiji Water says it’ll be “laying off nearly 400 Fijian employees and canceling construction projects in the country,” and the Fiji government says “the country would look for another bottler.”

Whether Fiji Water actually intends to leave Fiji — or is just trying to get a tax break — is up for debate. According to Tara Lohan at AlterNet, “A few years ago the company temporarily shut down its operations in protest to tax hikes as well.”
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#3
Well, that didn't last long, they're back. LOL

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/fiji-water-backtracks_n_790053.html

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Email Comments 34 SUVA, Fiji — Fiji Water reopened its operations in the South Pacific nation of Fiji on Wednesday – just two days after closing its bottling plant and laying off 400 workers in a row over a major government tax increase.

The U.S.-owned company said after meeting with Fiji's leaders it has agreed to "comply" with the hefty tax hike imposed on it by Fiji's military-led regime.

The prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said earlier he was ready to call tenders from international groups interested in taking over the artesian water bores that Fiji Water uses to extract one of the world's most popular bottled water brands.

On Monday the company, owned by California entrepreneurs Lynda and Stewart Resnick, said it was closing its facility in Fiji, canceling orders from suppliers and putting on hold several construction contracts in the country.

After its lawyers met Tuesday with Bainimarama and Fiji's Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, the company said it a short statement that "Fiji Water will reopen its bottling plant, effective Wednesday morning, Dec. 1, at its regular start up time of 8 a.m. Through our discussions, we have also agreed to comply with Fiji's new water tax law."

"Fiji Water is committed to working with the Fijian government, and remains dedicated to helping the country's economy and its people," it said, without elaborating.

On Wednesday, Bainimarama said he was delighted with the company's decision.

"The only comment I can make is that an excellent news from Fiji Water and we want to thank Fiji Water for everything, especially starting back the factory and bringing back the workers" he told the Legend FM radio network.

On Monday, Fiji Water president John Cochran said Fiji's government had announced it was imposing a new tax rate of 15 cents per liter on companies extracting more than 3.5 million liters (920,000 gallons) of water a month – up from the current one-third of one percent rate. Fiji Water is the only company extracting that much water.

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He said the new tax was untenable and left Fiji Water no choice but to close its Fiji facility. The company sells its Fiji-extracted bottled water in more than 40 countries.

The tax rise comes amid a deep downturn in Fiji's economy that is blamed on political instability following a coup in 2006 by armed forces chief Bainimarama – Fiji's fourth coup since 1987. Key trading partners have imposed various sanctions on the government, including European Union restrictions on the vital sugar industry.

Bainimarama's government has also taken a hard line with other foreign companies. Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. in September sold its controlling stake in Fiji's main daily newspaper after the government imposed strict new foreign ownership limits on media companies.

Cochran said that the government's action had sent a clear and unmistakable message to businesses operating in Fiji or looking to invest there that the country was increasingly unstable and becoming a very risky place in which to invest.

But he added Fiji Water remained willing to work through the issue with the government, and preferred to keep operating in Fiji.

Fiji Water is one of the top 10 bottled waters sold in the United States.

The Resnick's Roll International Corp. bought Fiji Water in 2004 for an undisclosed sum from Canadian billionaire David Gilmour, a resort owner who founded the water company in 1996. The company has sought to stay clear of Fiji's volatile politics, but recently became embroiled in a dispute between Bainimarama and his deputy.

Earlier this month, Fiji Water executive David Roth was deported from Fiji to the United States for what the government said was acting "in a manner prejudicial to good governance and public order."

The deportation caused Acting Prime Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau, who was also Minister for Defense, Immigration and National Security, to resign. Ganilau, a highly regarded official and traditional chief, had refused to issue the removal order against Roth.

Bainimarama, in China on an official visit, issued the notice instead.

Fiji Water trades on its product's purity. The company says its water comes from an artesian spring deep underground in Fiji and that the water never comes into contact with the air before it is bottled, making it clear of pollutants.

The water comes from the remote Yaqara Valley on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu, where the company also has its bottling plant.
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#5
You guys are being so silly! lol water is water
fiji water.... what makes it so diffrent and dont give me the bull it taste better water is water lol


I guess the pretty bottle haha
 
#6
yajaira said:
You guys are being so silly! lol water is water
fiji water.... what makes it so diffrent and dont give me the bull it taste better water is water lol


I guess the pretty bottle haha
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I have to agree. Watch this, it's pretty funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

I do have to say that not ALL bottled water is the same. I've gotten bottled water from places like Wal-Mart (their Sams brand) and it tasted disgusting. However, 99% of the time, I can taste absolutely no difference in it. I know I should stop buying it completely, but the water from the tap at my parents house has always tasted...off. Even with a filter, I prefer not to drink it, but I cannot taste the difference between the Kirland brand of bottled water from Costco and Fiji water.

ETA: I think with bottled water, as with most things in life, people buy into the expensive = good ideology. I'm not trying to slam people who like Fiji water, I personally, just don't get it.
 
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#7
digby723 said:
I have to agree. Watch this, it's pretty funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

I do have to say that not ALL bottled water is the same. I've gotten bottled water from places like Wal-Mart (their Sams brand) and it tasted disgusting. However, 99% of the time, I can taste absolutely no difference in it. I know I should stop buying it completely, but the water from the tap at my parents house has always tasted...off. Even with a filter, I prefer not to drink it, but I cannot taste the difference between the Kirland brand of bottled water from Costco and Fiji water.

ETA: I think with bottled water, as with most things in life, people buy into the expensive = good ideology. I'm not trying to slam people who like Fiji water, I personally, just don't get it.
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haha funny video
 
#11
Bottled water taste better than tap but yes... I buy it for the pretty bottle :smile: I'm a sucker for interesting packaging... can't help it I guess.. I work in the industry.. LOL

But in countries like Indonesia & Thailand... you can't drink the tap water, so bottled water it is!!
 
#12
yajaira said:
You guys are being so silly! lol water is water
fiji water.... what makes it so diffrent and dont give me the bull it taste better water is water lol


I guess the pretty bottle haha
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True. It's so funny that people buy it because of the pretty plastic bottle. (Not that I blame them, the Fiji water bottle definitely is pretty) And please don't even try to tell me that someone tastes differences here...
 
#13
Water absolutely tastes different from different sources. There is no question at all about that. It has to do with mineral and chemical content and other impurities. Distilled water with no impurities has no taste.

Taste water from a household tap, a well and a fresh spring and you'll be able to tell the difference from all three.

That said, I don't buy into the the whole bottled water craze unless tap water is undrinkable as noted above in some places.
 
#14
Echoes, I completely agree.

To be honest, the BEST water that I have ever tasted came from a river while I was hiking with my family in the Tyrolean Alps! That river was gushing and I just stuck my bottle in there and got water. Yum :biggrin:
 
#15
In my experience, there is definitely a difference among waters. For example I don't like Poland Spring but I love Fiji and Evian so I guess I do taste differences.
 
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