Poor quality coffee sees local firm losing market

 THE quality of coffee supplied to an overseas market was not good, resulting in a local company losing its market, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Tommy Tomscoll (pictured) says.

Speaking during the cupping competition awards presentation night in Port Moresby on Friday, Tomscoll urged the coffee farmers to ensure there was consistent supply to their markets and that the beans were of high quality.

“You must know how to look after the cherry and who would buy the cherry. You must know who your end user is when you export that bean.

“It is not good to go into the business and you do not know who the end user of your product is so you grow to meet the demand which is the taste of the consumer.

“In PNG, our beans are unique, and we continue to hold that market, because we produce fine and quality beans.

Last year, there were winners, one of our winners was offered a market in Melbourne and the market in Melbourne wanted to buy the beans from the winner. This is green bean. This market was fixed at K22 per kilogram.

However, he said the Melbourne market was eventually lost because the group could not consistently produce quality beans. 

Meanwhile, Tomscoll said currently 18 provinces and 79 districts produced coffee. 

He added that coffee continued to sustain the lives of 87 per cent of our population who live in rural areas and the country’s economy as well.

“Coffee on average brings between K500 and K700 million in revenue annually. Agriculture sector contributes K2 billion-plus into the budget of Papua New Guinea.

“Of that, coffee contributes 6 per cent towards the gross domestic product of Papua New Guinea.

“(At least) 27 per cent of GDP of this country is contributed by the agriculture sector.”