Dede Sophie

The new Papua New Guinea coffee exports office complex currently being constructed in Lae, Morobe Province is expected to be completed in September 2022. This was announced during a meeting between the Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd (CICL) and representatives from the departments of National Planning and Monitoring and Treasury on Monday, 22 August, 2022.  CICL Chief Operations Officer Steven Tumae and his team met with the government department delegation this week in Lae to update them on the progress of construction and also to visit the construction site to see how the actual work was progressing.  Tumae said preliminary work on submissions and securing funding on the new office complex started in 2014. However, actual approval by the Governor General to have the advert out for bidding was done in 2018. Thereafter, things have progressed to where they are now.  The contract awarded to Haom Builders in 2020 was fully funded by the National Government at the cost of K10.6 million. T...

The PNG  Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) is in the process of conducting a review of the prices of rice in the country. ICCC Commissioner Paulus Ain in an interview with NBC News says rice products are the main food that most Papua New Guineans consume daily. However, Mr. Ain says the commission is only monitoring the prices of rice and not controlling it. The 2022 Rice Industry Pricing Review outlined that the price increases were driven by costs increases in international shipping, blending, the need to source from higher priced markets to avoid shipping delays and congestion, and higher ports and wharfing costs. However, Mr. Ain explains that rice product is experiencing some stability, and he says the country should expect stability or a decline in the prices by the end of this year or early next year. Meantime, NBC News observed some major shops in Port Moresby are selling popular rice brands at K30 to K40 for 10kg bags of rice.     NBC News / PNG Today Next...