Between March, 1984 and 1985, a local company called Amalgamated Batteries Ltd exported more than 2500 locally-made batteries.
Located at Auckland Street in Vatuwaqa, Suva, the company was believed to be the first in Fiji to export locally-made batteries.
According to an article published by The Fiji Times on March 20, 1985, the director of the company, Ramesh Chauhan, said they had only produced two kinds of batteries — a plastic type and a hard rubber type.
He said two months earlier they had started making the plastic batteries — only four types — while for the hard rubber type, there were 22 different types already manufactured.
With the exception of lead for the hard rubber batteries, the remainder of the raw materials were imported.
Mr Chauhan said they prepared the lead by recycling old scrap batteries.
Twelve sizes of wheel weights were made at the factory and 90 per cent of the production was exported with about 300,000 wheel weights being exported to New Zealand, amounting to $27,000.
Mr Chauhan said 250 batteries could be made daily at the factory under the brand names Ace, Vega, Voltex and Solar.
The factory employed 17 workers and a technician from its parent company in New Zealand who trained their staff.
He said every two months the company would send someone to New Zealand for further training.
The factory had the capacity to produce 25,000 batteries but they manufactured according to orders placed by overseas buyers.
He said the company had manufactured 5500 batteries a year to meet the local demand and production for the year would be increasing.