Coffee marketing needs more push

PAPUA New Guinea coffee is highly-valued in the European markets.
However, PNG’s green bean  has not evolved yet  as a major commodity because of its  poor export marketing, European Union economist Thomas Voit said.
Speaking yesterday at the 2nd EU trade-related assistance project meeting (EUTRAP), Voit said coffee was unlike canned tuna, whose high demand is attributed to good marketing management that made  it  sell well in the EU.
He said coffee prices, despite its demand, often rose and fell every year because of erratic export management.
The meeting was for the EUTRAP and its five beneficiaries –  PNG Customs, Department of Agriculture and Livestock National Codex Committee, National Agriculture and Research Institute, Department of Justice and Attorney General, and National Institute of Standards and Industrial Technology to report on the progresses made  in  implementing the project.
EUTRAP, launched last year, works to achieve the global objective to support PNG in benefiting more from international trade, to increase growth and through that, to contribute to poverty reduction in the country.
It also works to encourage the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and related line agencies to develop a trade policy that will strengthen the capacity in trade policy formulation, negotiation, analysis and implementation.
It is also to strengthen the quality infrastructure to enhance competitiveness of PNG products in international markets.
DFAT director-general trade division Jacinta Warakai-Manua said this has allowed PNG to support the government’s export-led growth strategy and enable PNG to benefit better from international trade agreements, including the economic partnership agreement.
Voit said when PNG signed this agreement, EU granted the country duty free and quota free access to export its products into the European market, which is why  canned tuna is a success.