Covid-19 had little effect on beef business, says CEO

SALES for the New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) K30 million beef business has not been seriously impacted by the Covid-19, says chief executive James Graham.
He said like all fastmoving consumer goods businesses in Papua New Guinea, NBPOL had been experiencing disruption with its supply during the state of emergency (SOE).
Graham said roughly 50 per cent of the beef consumed in PNG was imported and NBPOL was committed to supply the market. “Revenue for the business segment has been steady at approximately K30 million per annum,” he said.
NBPOL beef business consists of the Numundo beef in West New Britain and Ramu beef in Madang. “The Numundo herd has around 4,000 head and this herd size has not increased for the past 10 years,” Graham said.
“The Ramu herd, on the other hand, was around 15,000 head 10 years ago and is now 22,000. “The limiting factor is suitable land.
“For the past three years, we have processed approximately 7,400 herd per annum yielding 3.5 million kilos of dressed beef.”
However, Graham said currently, the same could not be said about the billion-kina palm oil industry with a drop in global crude palm oil prices due to the Covid-19.
“There has been a tremendously adverse impact on the (palm oil) business,” he said.