Fruit fly

Hopes Tonga melon trade to NZ back in a fortnight

Trade was halted a fortnight ago when fruit fly were found in melons from Tonga during bio-security checks in New Zealand.

With an audit underway into what happened, Minoru Nishi of Nishi Trading said the sector is hoping to be back in business as soon as possible.

He said they have just unloaded 100 tonnes of watermelon meant for export on the domestic market in Tonga with another 400 tonnes likely in the next week.

Mr Nishi said the ban is hurting a lot of people, but it is an opportunity to work more closely together and put improvements to the system.