Am Samoa is among top three Pacific island exporters to the U.S

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Exports from American Samoa — driven by increased U.S consumer demand for canned tuna — contributed to the spike in exports from Pacific Islands economies in 2020 to the United States, according the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) report released yesterday on U.S. trade and investment with the Pacific Islands.

And the 400-page report titled “U.S-Pacific Islands Trade and Investment: Impediments and Opportunities” covering the period of 2017 to 2021 states that American Samoa is among the top three Pacific island exporting economies to the U.S during this time period.

Pacific Island economies covered in the report are American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

According to the report, the United States was among the leading destinations for Pacific Island regional exports during 2017-2021 during which overall goods exports to the U.S fell slightly and Pacific Island exports to the world increased.

According to the report, Pacific Island exports to the U.S decreased by $18.7 million from 2017 to 2021, or 2.4 percent, compared to the 15.6 percent growth of Pacific Island exports to all destinations.

Furthermore, large export increases to the U.S from French Polynesia
 ($27.2 million) and Fiji ($19.0 million) were offset by larger decreases from Papua New Guinea ($45.6 million) and New Caledonia ($20.1 million).

Additionally, though total Pacific Island exports globally decreased from 2019 to 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, exports to the U.S increased by $29.4 million, making 2020 exports to the United States the largest of the five-year period.

“This was facilitated by a $53.1 million increase in exports from American Samoa, driven by increased U.S. demand for canned tuna,” the report points out.

It notes that Pacific Island economies’ exports to the U.S were highly concentrated by exporting economies. The top three exporting Pacific Islands economies during 2017 to 2021 —American Samoa, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea — accounted for 83.3 percent of all Pacific Islands’ export value to the United States.

“Exports from American Samoa largely consisted of prepared and preserved tuna (99.5 percent),” it says. “Exports from Fiji included mostly [bottled] water (46.8 percent) and prepared and preserved tuna.”

Goods exported to the U.S from Papua New Guinea were mostly coffee (52.2 percent) and cocoa beans (23.8 percent). French Polynesia, the fifth-largest exporter to the U.S based on annual average share, primarily exported artwork (38.0 percent), pearls and other precious stones and metals (25.8 percent), and fresh fishery products (24.9 percent).

The report included other Pacific island countries and their percentage contributions on exports to the U.S for 2017 to 2021.

LEADING PRODUCT CATEGORIES

The report also looked at the top exports to the U.S, which includes tuna, water, ferronickel, coffee, cocoa, parts of plants, and artwork. The top 10 exports represented 86.0 percent of all Pacific Islands exports to the United States during 2017–2021.

“The leading export was prepared and preserved tuna, mostly from American Samoa, while fresh and chilled tuna (yellowfin and big eye) were also in the top 10,” the report points out. “Water was the second-largest export, consisting primarily of the Fiji Water brand from Fiji.”

“Together, canned tuna and water account for two-thirds, or 66.4 percent, of regional exports to the United States,” it says.

The report also covered the individual top exports providing data and other information for each of the Pacific Island economies. This Samoa News story looks at what the report says about the top two export products — tuna and bottled water.

TUNA CATEGORY

Ocean-based resources are a vital source of production, consumption, employment, government revenue, and exports for many Pacific Island economies, the report explained.

 Some of the most important tuna fisheries are contained within Pacific Island exclusive economic zones, and tuna made up most of the fish and seafood exports from the Pacific Islands to the United States. These exports consisted mostly of prepared and preserved tuna and bonito - “canned tuna”.

The report explained that tuna exports from the Pacific Islands averaged $443 million and accounted for 97.7 percent of average total fisheries export to the U.S by value during 2017–2021. Prepared and preserved tuna and bonito increased from $374 million in 2017 to $490 million in 2020 
(31.2 percent) but decreased to $367 million in 2021 (25.2 percent), ending the period 2.0 percent less than the value in 2017.

It also says that exports to the U.S accounted for 61.5 percent of all canned tuna exports from all Pacific Island economies.

“Exports to the United States from American Samoa averaged $348 million annually and accounted for 82.9 percent of the Pacific Islands region’s canned tuna exports to the United States,” the report says. “The remaining amount was from Fiji and the Solomon Islands.”

Additionally, canned tuna exports from the Pacific Islands accounted for 29.5 percent of all U.S. imports of canned tuna. Furthermore, American Samoa accounted for 24.5 percent of total U.S. canned tuna imports, Fiji for 4.9 percent, and the Solomon Islands for less than 1 percent.

The report points out that StarKist Co., a South Korean–based company, owns the only operating tuna cannery on American Samoa; all other canneries on American Samoa closed between 2007 and 2018. StarKist is the largest private employer and the second-largest employer overall on American Samoa and had about 2,250 employees in 2021.

(Samoa News notes — as cited in past federal government reports — that the overall-largest employer in the territory is the American Samoa Government.)

BOTTLED WATER

According to the report, bottled water exports from the Pacific Island economies were exclusively from Fiji and likely exported primarily by U.S. company Fiji Water. These exports averaged $107 million during 2017–21, increasing from $102 million in 2017 to $115 million in 2019 (13.3 percent).

Water exports, however, dropped to $87 million in 2020 (a decline of 24.7 percent from 2019) but then increased to $120 million in 2021, 39.3 percent above the 2020 level and 18.8 percent above the 2017 level.

The Fiji Water operations and brand has been owned by the California-based Wonderful Company since 2004. The plant originally opened in 1996 and in 2010 (based on the latest data available) reportedly employed 400 workers, the report explained.

Although Fiji Water is largely viewed as a premium bottled water in the United States, the report points out, that the broader U.S. bottled water market is estimated to be valued at $15 billion, with Fiji Water estimated to account for $150 million of U.S. sales and well behind leading domestically produced brands such as Dasani, Niagara, and Aquafina.

According to the report, the Fiji Water company is economically important in Fiji, accounting for 17.8 percent of all exports from Fiji during 2017–21 and about 3 percent of the gross domestic product.

Samoa News will report in future editions on other specific issues covered in the report on American Samoa.

BACKGROUND

The USITC report provides an overview of the Pacific Island economies, descriptions of trends in goods and services exports to the U.S and investment from the U.S, and analysis on the use and utilization of the Generalized System of Preferences and the trade preferences provided to the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States.

In addition, the report identifies and profiles several sectors as having potential for increased export to or investment from the U.S. The report (online at: www.usitc.gov) describes impediments to increased exports in these sectors as well as broad initiatives and technical assistance to overcome impediments to trade and investment.