COFFEE growers, investors and stakeholders in Papua New Guinea need to take heed and work closely with the Marape Government to revamp the once thriving industry.
Prime Minister James Marape MP said this was totally necessary to give new direction and focus on re-establishing the cash crop which was and still is the life-line and economic security for ordinary Papua New Guineans and businesses that specialize in the development, processing and export of the commodity.
Prime Minister Marape said it was unfortunate that over the years the crop had been allowed to deteriorate through lack of attention, research and development, grower incentives, infrastructure development, downstream processing and other value-adding innovations.
He said this time around and under his government, the country has no choice but to directly deal with the industry under a newly created Ministry to oversee its expansion from production through to manufacturing and export.
The Prime Minister said the coffee industry contributes about six per cent (6%) to the National GDP which is about K856 million per annum.
Mr Marape said on average the coffee industry contributes between K400 million and K500 million per year to the economy derived from export revenue.
However, he said with the decline in recent years production had fluctuated between 600,000 bags and 1.2 million bags in the past 10 years.
Mr Marape said of great concern to the government was the industry’s inability to maintain production levels over one million or more bags per year.
Mr Marape said in terms of world trade, PNG production and exports remains at an average of about 1.1 per cent (1.1%) of the world market share.
Focusing on the medium and long-term outlook the Prime Minister said the outlook for coffee globally was very promising with consumption growth rates increasing in China, Japan and India.
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