Natural Dairy and May Wang are now looking to the Pacific Islands for farming opportunities. 

A business delegation of Natural Dairy representatives, including May Wang and All Black legend Michael Jones, recently visited numerous Pacific Islands.

Local media reported that the group was exploring investment opportunities in farming and fisheries in the Islands.

They toured Niue, Samoa and the Cooks.

Michael Jones was on the tour as he is group strategic manger for Reef Group Limied, an Auckland based company which specialises in producing noni juice in the Pacific Islands. 

Natural Dairy’s New Zealand newspaper, The United Press, says it has placed contracts for 3 million litres of noni juice with the Reef Group which will be exported to China and sold through a chain of Natural Dairy-owned retail outlets. 

Reef Group’s Mac Leauanae says the company has been growing and processing noni juice in Niue for export to Japan and Taiwan and Auckland since 2002, but says the order from Natural Dairy has led to a huge investment in facilities in the Islands.

“This client, New Zealand Natural Dairy, they have asked for a lot better volumes than we could produce out of Niue. So we’ve had to set up a whole new establishment in Samoa, and we’re looking at other countries in the Pacific that grow noni also.”

He says the contract will bring huge economic benefits to the Islands.

“At the moment anywhere from $50,000-$100,000 a month of cash a month is being pumped into Samoa, just for the communities that pick fruit. And the great thing about noni is that you can pick it wild, it just grows all year round, so you won’t have any issues in relation to supply or demand of noni fruit. 

Internationally the noni juice market is worth over $2 billion and it is often marketed as having health benefits – however those claims are disputed by health organisations.”

In 2010, the New Zealand government rejected Natural Dairy’s bid to buy the Crafar farms on the advice of the Overseas Investment Office – ruling that its directors failed New Zealand’s foreign investors’ good character test. 

Natural Dairy’s owner Jack Chen was found guilty of serious breaches of Chinese securities regulations in 2004 and was banned from being a director for three years, while May Wang was declared bankrupt in New Zealand in December last year. 

While on the pacific tour Jack Chen was made a village chief.

The Samoan Observer reported he was bestowed with the title of High Chief Tupa’ilelei of Sasina Village for investing in a 500 acre noni plantation on the island of Savaii.