NGIP Agmark reports decrease in income

Business
Source:
The National, Wednesday July 6th, 2016

The NGIP Agmark Limited reported a decrease in income from K244.5 million to K234.2 million last year, according to chairman Donald Manoa (pictured).
NGIP Agmark Limited and its subsidiaries operate in the cocoa, coffee, retailing (building, hardware, agricultural supplies and machinery), coastal shipping and transport, engineering fabrication and property development plus investments industries.
Manoa said it was a challenging year for the company.
“We have been forced to face some hard truths about our organisation and about the PNG economic situation,” he said.
“Most significantly, we reached the conclusion that our strategy of aiming to be a large-scale retail hardware player nationally, was simply not sustainable given the increase in competition and rise of new hardware stores in PNG.”
He said the company continued to work hard to place the building blocks for a recovery through increased seedlings supply, supporting farmer education and improving cocoa farming practices.
“The decision to exit hardware is not only about the weakness in PNG retail, but just as much by the belief in the opportunity and importance of the agricultural sector.
The hardware retail division was cut back last year. The Port Moresby and Lae outlets were closed in June last year while the Talina branch in Kokopo and the total division ceased business at the end of last year.
The financial report said the drought and the El Nino weather patterns caused the widespread effects of crops to fell away substantially.
Accordint to the company’s website NGIP Agmark Ltd is a diversified agri-business operating plantations, coastal shipping, hardware, machinery, trucking, logistics, and stevedoring.
It is PNG’s largest cocoa grower, trader and exporter. From this exotic base the company trades more than 60 per cent of PNG’s cocoa into Asia, China, the USA and Europe.

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