ABOUT 100 people have been laid off by two local companies that are struggling to survive post-2006 coup period.
Flour Mills of Fiji has closed down two milling factories and Fiji Fish Marketing Group has tied up four of its vessels.
Both companies say more job losses are inevitable in the upcoming months if nothing is done by the interim Government.
FMF Group of Companies chairman Hari Punja said they would be closing the rice and pea milling factories because of the impact the reduction in import duty for the two products had on their operations.
The company started sending people home from the beginning of the year.
Twenty people have lost their jobs and 20 others are indirectly affected.
Import duty on split peas reduced from 27 to 5 per cent and polished white rice from 27 to 15 per cent.
Mr Punja said the company had already placed orders for pre-packs.
"We are gradually closing the activities and will be completely shut down by the end of this month,' he said.
He said the mills have been operating for 15 years and the company had put on hold $30million worth of projects which would have created 120 new jobs.
He said the company had written to the interim Finance Minister to voice their grievances but the minister had come back to them saying he could not help them.
Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry could not be contacted yesterday despite several attempts made.
Fiji Fish executive chairman Grahame Southwick said they had already tied up four vessels which left 60 people unemployed at the beginning of this month.
"We are looking at closing another five or six in the upcoming months depending on the submission we have made to the Finance Ministry," he said.
If five to six more vessels are tied up, about 200-300 people will be unemployed, he said.
Mr Southwick said as a result of uneven conditions applied to foreign and local vessels, foreign vessels were able to operate around 30 per cent lower in their operation cost.
"They pay no licence fee to Fiji, no duty or fuel or inputs, no Reserve Bank of Fiji compliance and yet employ foreign crew," he said.
He said in the 2008 budget duty on fishing inputs such as bait and other things increased from 3 to 5 per cent.
"Local companies are forced to pay all these costs," he said.
"In spite of various submissions over the years to various governments in relation to this matter, the response has been further increase charges to the locals and to continue the subsidies to the foreign operators."
Fiji Employers Federation chief executive Ken Roberts said the decision taken by individual companies was economical and the companies should not be blamed.
Suva Chamber of Commerce president Doctor Nur Bano Ali said the chamber had received complaints and that these two companies employed 2000 people collectively.
She said no economy could progress without a local thriving private sector.
"Already Fiji is suffering from high unemployment levels and government should assist wherever it can to facilitate the need to ensure existing employment is maintained," she said.