Nine coffee stakeholders from Papua New Guinea will be participating at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) from August 17-19, 2023.
Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) Chief Operations Officer Steven Tumae said as the authority responsible for providing leadership and services for the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea, it is pleased to be supporting this international event with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia PNG Economic Partnership (APEP) program.
He said CIC’s mandate is to regulate and improve market access for the industry. It further recognizes the need to foster and actively promote partnerships and marketing.
He highlighted that Australia is our traditional market for Green Bean (GB) coffee exports and it is only right that we promote PNG coffee through this international event to create a platform for PNG coffee stakeholders to interact with users of coffee.
Australia is a traditional market and one of the top four importing countries of PNG Green Bean Coffee. In 2021, PNG exported 749,035 GB bags. Of these the top three were Germany 22%, USA 19% and Australia 17%. Australia imported 97,374 GB bags and of this, 13% A Grade compared to 59% of Y3 coffee. The new PNG Green Bean Standards places more emphasis on the quality of coffee. In this regard, there is potential for our coffee stakeholders to tap into the Specialty Market in Australia.
Tumae said the specialty market is an opportunity that PNG coffee industry could tap into and together with partners such as APEP, we would like to create this avenue for our coffee stakeholders to venture into.
“We welcome you to visit booth L16 between 17th – 19th August at the MICE 2023, taste some delicious Papua New Guinea coffees and meet the people behind them,” Tumae said.
APPROVED FOR RELEASE:
Steven Tumae (Mr)
Chief Operations Officer
Some of the PNG coffee industry participants who will be at the MICE 2023 in Melbourne, Australia.