Honey man in for a sweet deal

LOCAL honey is being used in organic health products made by a small business in Port Moresby.
Divine Management Services (DMS) uses the honey to make facial and body scrubs, shampoos and other organic health products.
The business gets its honey from a beekeeper in Goroka, Eastern Highlands.
“I was in the real estate business and decided to branch into what I now operate,” businessowner Dorothy Luana said.
“I noticed that there was a need for health products and what were on the shelves were overseas products. So about two years ago, I started up DMS with the aim of producing health products made from locally-made products.
“It was about that time that I came into contact with Kelly Inae who had a bee farm in Goroka and a few people working under him.
“We got into an arrangement for me to purchase pure honey all the way from Goroka and have it in our products.
“Before this, I would buy imported honey and although it was low-priced it was not of a good quality for our purposes.
“The Mountain Honey I get from Kelly is better quality, although the price is higher when it comes to transportation and other costs.
“I also wanted to be selling products that were fully made in PNG, so getting honey in Papua New Guinea and supporting farmers was a good thing.”
Divine Management Services also sells virgin coconut oil products from East New Britain.
“I also source spices and other organic material for the health products and there is demand for this type of products,” Luana said.
“Health is important and we have the best organic product – just have to make sure it is easy to get.”
The cost of freight has always been a factor and Luana has had to adjust her business operations because of that.
“In East New Britain, I have two blocks where I grow a range of crops that I use in my products,” she said.
“The price for airfreight has been increasing and makes the cost of getting it into Port Moresby difficult.
“This will make our products more expensive.
“This has made me do downstream processing outside to make it easier to transport. It also makes it easier to sell as well.
“This is being done with virgin coconut oil products that I get from a local producer in Rabaul.
“In the case of honey, which I get from Goroka, I went over there last week to talk with Kelly about how we need to get honey out through shipping at Lae as it will cost less.”