Wednesday, November 21, 2007

[PBN] Body Shop buys VCO from Samoa

Source: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=36360


Body Shop excited by first purchase of organic coconut oil from the Pacific

Posted at 07:42 on 12 November, 2007 UTC

The multi-national cosmetic company, the Body Shop, says it is excited
about its new venture with a community based project in Samoa.

Samoa will export an initial shipment of 300 kilogrammes of organic
coconut oil to the Body Shop in Britain this week.

A Body Shop spokesperson, Nicky Tracey, says it's a first.

"We don't have a lot of community trade programmes within the
Asia-Pacific region and the Body Shop, globally, made the decision that
they wanted to find an organic coconut oil source and if possible to
source it from the Asia Pacific region. We are delighted that we have
been able to start working with the community in Samoa."

Nicky Tracey says the oil, which is produced with the support of a
Samoan NGO, Women in Business Development, will be used for a new
product range to be launched next year.

Samoa's virgin coconut oil heading to Body Shop
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4271806a6026.html

Body Shop, one of the world's largest cosmetic companies, has signed a
deal with a group of Samoan women to provide organic coconut oil to the
world.

The breakthrough for Samoa's Women in Business Development Inc (WIBDI)
is also a triumph for Oxfam New Zealand and New Zealand Aid who part
funded the scheme.

The Samoa Observer newspaper reports they will be sending the first
300kgs of organic coconut oil to the United Kingdom next week. This is
to begin production for the launch of a new product range in the
Northern Hemisphere summer and Samoa is expected to sell between 10 and
30 tons a year.

By the middle of next year, Body Shop International stores in all
continents will be selling products containing Samoan Virgin Coconut
Oil, WIBDI director Adimaimalaga Tafuna'i told the Observer.

It's a major breakthrough for copra growers in the Pacific who have
suffered for years from depressed prices.

Under the organic scheme farmers get six tala a kilo (NZ$3.17) with
another one tala going to a community development fund.

Farms have to be certified as organic and so far Samoa has four on the
island of Savai'i.

WIBDI president Sheree Stehlin thanked Oxfam and NZAID.

"It is really putting Samoa on the map as a virgin coconut oil producer
and may open the way for development of other community trade products."

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Check for earlier Pacific Biofuel posts: http://pacbiofuel.blogspot.com/

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