Export to overseas market, firms told

 COMPANIES in Lae have been urged to look beyond just meeting the demand of the local market and become export-oriented too.

Morobe provincial planner Francis Japu said 75 per cent of companies surveyed in Lae were targeting only the domestic market and were not export-oriented. 

He said during the presentation of the Lae-Nadzab Urban Development Plan last week.

He said Lae companies should look at exporting too.

“These are some of the situations that we would like to see changing,” Japu said.

“About 75 per cent of companies studied and visited are only targeting the domestic market. 

“We are now looking at changing this situation if we are to make Lae city and Papua New Guinea a more competitive industrial environment.

“We would like to see a change in the 75 per cent of companies so that they export more to the international market.

“Leading companies are handling almost all the processes in-house or relying on imports, thus the supporting local business is not well developed.”

Japu said the plan was to make Lae-Nadzab the industrial hub of the country.

“Lae-Nadzab area will be developed as the industrial manufacturing and distribution centre of Papua New Guinea.

“It will be developed as the growth centre of Morobe and the surrounding region.”