US’ GSP imports from PNG up 21 per cent, says official

THE current United States Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) imports from Papua New Guinea are up by about 21 per cent compared to the same period last year.
A spokesperson from the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) told The National this week, that if that was sustained for the rest of the year, it would make PNG the second fastest growing GSP exporter among the Pacific island countries and would mark PNG’s highest level of GSP exports ever.
About a year ago, due to PNG’s hosting of Apec, a USTR team visited the country to talk about GSP, a US trade preference programme created in 1974 to provide economic development opportunities and help countries like PNG compete with larger and more diversified exporting nations.
With this goal, GSP waives tariffs on about 3,500 products for eligible low-and-middle-income countries.
“We’ve examined our import data for PNG, and while we only have seven months of statistics for 2019 so far, we do see a noticeable upturn in the value of GSP imports, all this shows a positive trend for PNG’s exporters.” USTR said it was also important to note, though, that the growth was concentrated in one product which was oilcake produced by coconut processors.
Oilcake is a by-product of coconut processing used for scientific and medical purposes.
“So far, we haven’t seen evidence of diversification into new industries,” it said.
“So the results so far should be encouraging for PNG, but they also remain somewhat limited.”
PNG as a country, is enrolled in the GSP programme and is therefore eligible for the benefits.
To remain eligible in coming years, primarily the PNG government must meet the programme eligibility criteria and work with the US government to address any concerns.
For individual PNG businesses, it is valuable to keep track of the products being sold and check to be sure whether the products are eligible for GSP.
PNG businesses can use GSP eligibility as a selling point for US buyers who may or may not be aware of trade preference opportunities.
When exporting under GSP, it is important to preserve paperwork, including related to sources of raw materials and payment to workers, so that the customers can show that the product is eligible for GSP.
It said overall, Americans buy about US$110 million (K373 mil) worth of PNG products annually.
Most of this falls into four major categories – coffee, cacao beans, a few varieties of petroleum products, and vanilla. Of the export total, GSP exports account for about US$400,000 (K1.35 mil) per year, with oilcake typically representing 90 per cent to 100 per cent of this total.