CIC shuts down Erap coffee mill

MORE than 40,000 coffee farm family units from Milne Bay to Sandaun province will be left without any means of income.
And the casual employment status of more than 200 mothers, who sort out parchment coffee at the Erap mill, 45km out of Lae on the Highlands Highway, has also been terminated.
The mill that processes coffee parchment into green beans for export was shut down last Friday by industry regulator Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC).
The move has now left the coffee co-operatives from Milne Bay, Oro, Morobe, Madang, East Sepik and Sandaun under the umbrella of the Papua New Guinea Coffee Growers Federation (PNGCGF) without any means of income.
They send their robusta and arabica coffee to the mill for processing and then exporting.
The returns are paid into their co-operatives to be paid out as dividends. The PNGCGF has set up co-operatives in 13 provinces.
Most of the co-operatives are formed by farm family units, which consist of the parents, their children and relatives.
More than three containers full of green beans are exported every month by the mill through the PNGCF.
Gross monthly export earnings are understood to be around K400,000.
CIC chief executive officer Ricky Mitio said yesterday he had ordered the closure of the mill because the owner, Solop Coffee, did not have an operating license.