Fiji Water

Fiji Water is a brand of bottled water owned by the American conglomerate The Wonderful Company. According to marketing materials, the water comes from an artesian aquifer in Viti Levu. Fiji Water is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

History

Canadian businessman David Gilmour founded Fiji Water under the name Natural Waters of Viti Ltd. in 1996. Stewart and Lynda Resnick's Roll Global (since renamed to The Wonderful Company) acquired Fiji Water from Gilmour in 2004 for a reported US$50 million.

Fiji Water acquired Justin Vineyards & Winery in 2010.

In Fiji

Fiji Water bottles water from Fiji and ships it overseas. The water is sourced from Yaqara, on the north shore of Viti Levu, the largest island of Fiji.

In 2007–2008, disputes with the Fiji government over export duties led to legal cases, impounded shipments and a self-imposed industry-wide shutdown of Fijian water bottlers. The government eventually dropped its proposed 20-cent per litre tax. In December 2008, Fiji Water laid off 40 percent of its staff due to weakening sales.

In November 2010, Fiji deported Fiji Water director of external affairs David Roth for "interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs," leading to the resignation of interim defence and immigration minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau. Shortly afterwards, an increase in the tax from one-third of a Fiji cent per litre to 15 cents per litre for producers over 15 million litres per month which at that point in time applied only to Fiji Water, led the company to shut down its Fiji Island offices on November 29, 2010. The purpose of the raise was to increase Fiji Water's tax contribution to the Fiji Government on the F$150 million (AUD 82 million) they exported each year from F$500,000 to F$22.6 million.