Region & History

Rum from Fiji comes from Lautoka, a port city on the dry west coast of Viti Levu, the country's largest island. This is where the Rum Co. of Fiji distillery is located, long known as South Pacific Distilleries. The state-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation built it in 1980 so the country would need to import less whisky and gin, and so the molasses from the sugar mills would find a buyer.

Sugar came first. Fiji became a British colony in 1874, and planters recruited workers from other South Pacific islands, often through deception or coercion. From 1879 to 1916, around 61,000 indentured laborers from India arrived as well, the Girmitiya, named after the English word "agreement." The contract initially ran for five years; those who stayed another five years earned the right to a free return passage. Many were housed in simple barracks, the "lines." The last ship, the Sutlej, reached Fiji in November 1916.

The Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company began operations in Fiji in 1880, and its first mill started up in Nausori in 1882. The Lautoka mill, the company's largest, has been grinding cane since 1903. The Global Girmit Museum in Lautoka, opened in May 2018, commemorates the indentured laborers. Many of the country's cane farmers are descended from them to this day.

On October 10, 1970, Fiji gained independence. The distillery was acquired by the Foster's Group in 1998, which transferred stills from the now-closed Willowbank distillery in New Zealand to it. Today it is operated by Paradise Beverages Fiji, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. There is no protected designation of origin for Fiji rum; no Fiji entry appears in the EU register. The label therefore carries no protected place of origin, only the producer's name.