K80mil expansion eyed

By PETER ESILA
PARADISE Foods Ltd is investing K70 million to expand both its production manufacturing line in Lae and K10 million upgrading for its Queen Emma Chocolate factory in Port Moresby, chief executive officer Michael Penrose says.
Penrose said this in Port Moresby yesterday following a visit by Australian assistant minister for trade and manufacturing, senator Tim Ayres, to its chocolate factory.
Ayres said PNG could not only be an exporter of raw materials but of finished products as well.
“This is how we build the economy of the future, in Australia, we want to make sure that we are not just exporting the raw commodities, but that we are going up the value chain and creating good jobs,” he said.
“PNG can be a country that makes things for the world.
“I am proud of Australia in this role, supporting this development, and making sure that this happens and working with you at a management level.”
Since 2016, Australia and New Zealand have supported Queen Emma Chocolate through the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access (Phama)Plus programme to improve cocoa quality and productivity, increasing the access to new markets, and improving returns for smallholder cocoa farming households.
Penrose said the support received from cocoa had been outstanding.
He said this year was a “breakout” year for Queen Emma Chocolate and the company was going to start upgrading its chocolate plant.
“Currently, we produce about 20 tonnes of chocolate a month, if complete, we should produce about 120 tonnes a month.
“Obviously, that means we will need to buy more cocoa, get more growers and the upgrade is going to significantly improve the quality of chocolate that we produce.
“That is going to make a significant difference and the work that we do in the farm, in terms of certification.”
Queen Emma Chocolate general manager Karina Makori said the company took pride in being a factory that was PNG owned and processed only PNG-grown cocoa.
“Our collaboration with Phama Plus has created a faster system for testing cocoa beans, making it easier to provide timely and accurate feedback to smallholder suppliers, while also improving cocoa production in PNG,” she said.
Makori added that cocoa farming provided a direct income to more than 150,000 households across PNG.
“We source our cocoa locally from more than 3,500 households,” she said.
The company sources most of its cocoa supply from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Morobe and Madang with smaller supplies from East New Britain, Northern, Milne Bay, East Sepik and Central.