About 500 jobs will be threatened as there will be a drop in sales.

This is the view of PAFCO's Chief Operating Officer, Chandra Prakash who is expecting to meet with the Interim Prime Minister soon to raise their concern and discuss ways of resolving the situation.

In a government statement, Prakash said the recent removal of duty from imported canned food stuff will negatively impact PAFCO's local canned foods, which in turn will threaten 500 jobs from the 1000 people employed from the entire Lomaiviti Group, who are solely dependent on PAFCO for their livelihoods.

Prakash said PAFCO will now be a victim to cheap imports and because imported products will be sold cheaper, PAFCO's local products will remain stagnant.

He explained that at the moment, PAFCO's local tuna is selling at 79c each while the imported ones from Thailand, Indonesia and China are selling at 89c each.

Prakash said with the drop in duty, their prices will drop even further.

On saving the company's operations, he suggested that the Interim Government should consider subsidising the local food manufacturers.