VISIT BY UK COFFEE BUYERS REKINDLES APPRECIATION FOR PNG COFFEE

A delegation of ten coffee buyers from the United Kingdom recently completed a successful visit to 19 coffee business houses and producers in five provinces in the country.

The visit was made possible through the UK Trade Partnership Program (UKTP), supported by the British High Commission, and facilitated by the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC).

From May 24 to 30, the team visited exporters, coffee mills, plantations, farmers, freight forwarders in the PNG coffee industry to familiarize themselves with the industry’s set up, farming practices, production levels, processing methods and export logistics.

The visit commenced in Mt Hagen and continued onto Jiwaka, Simbu, Goroka and ended in Lae, Morobe Province.

British High Commissioner, H.E Anne Macro accompanied the visiting UK coffee buyers on the trip from Goroka to Lae.

“We are very pleased that we have a large delegation that visited the PNG coffee industry. Some of them have already bought coffee from PNG and others are new. ITC is a trade program. We fund ITC to work with a number of different sectors, including coffee, cocoa, and other specialty food products.

Ms Macro said they have been a number of producers that the program has sponsored over the years to go to world trade shows in London and other places. She said that with this visit she hopes for more close partnerships and collaborations between PNG and the UK in the coffee space.

CIC overseas representative, Mick Wheeler said the objective of this mission was to introduce UK buyers to exporters in PNG, facilitate long term business partnerships between UK buyers and producers/ exporters in PNG, facilitate exports of coffee beans from PNG, provide advice on quality and productive capacity and quality improvement and advise PNG producers on demand in UK and market requirements and expectations.

UKTP Programme Manager Jarmila Sarda said the program has been operating in PNG since 2019, and is funded by the UK and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) based in Geneva. She said the program’s mandate is to help Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) increase their competitiveness and accompany them through international markets. “This is the first time our program has brought a coffee delegation to PNG. We have brought 10 UK importers and roasters with an objective to find new origins, make them discover PNG coffee, and hopefully start a journey which will help them to increase the trade links between PNG and England.”

Sarda said the team have had wonderful encounters during the visit, meeting with exporters, producers, and farmers. “It has been an experience of a lifetime for all people concerned. I am hoping we can bring in more UK buyers to this country and together make the coffee industry grow further,” she said.

Among the group of buyers and roasters was Tim Smith from Johnson Brothers. Johnson Brothers is a long established family business in Northern Ireland and they have been in the coffee roasting business since 1913. “We source about 400 tonnes of coffee every year and 50 tonnes of which comes from PNG. From this trip, I plan to go back and raise the profile of PNG coffee, to tell the story and talk to our customers about the challenges the farmers face every day and how PNG can continue to raise the quality of coffee that they create. With the visit to the exporters, I hope to be able to collaborate and give recommendations on what we want from the market and what we need for our customers as well,” he said.

“This is the first time I have ever been to an origin country. From visiting the cooperatives and farmers and listening to their stories and hearing their challenges, it really puts into perspective a few things for me. When we look at the exporter’s point of view, the quality of PNG coffee is fantastic with lots of different levels and grades that we can choose from.”

Managing Director of Smith’s coffee company in the UK, Colin Smith also shared his sentiments from the recent visit. “We are a roaster and we roast about 8 tonnes a week of a variety of different coffees. We don’t specialize in any particular coffee, but we like to have big range of different coffee so our clients can try different origins, flavours and concepts of coffee. We also blend some PNG coffee in order to match the bigger market in the restaurant and hotel trade. From this visiting group, most are importers in the UK. A roaster like myself cannot import a container so getting direct from a farm or from an area or from a mill is very difficult. Only way is to have links from the mills and from people who bring bulk into the UK. Because now we have left the EU, it costs a lot of money to bring stuff from the EU into the UK. It helps when we can find a link through a particular company and others who are already importers and they can see the need to bring in coffee from PNG. Smith said if PNG coffee can come into a larger market with a good Y- grade then they can split it up and bring it to roasters like himself.

CIC Chief Operations Officer Steven Tumae highlighted that between 2023 and 2024, the volume of PNG coffee exported to the UK has increased from 3, 826 bags to 4, 928 bags, indicating an increase of 29% generating a revenue of K8.7 million in the duration of the two years. He said it was a busy week hosting the visiting UK buyers to see an overview of the whole PNG coffee industry, and hopes for better cooperation and partnership going forward.

Ends//

VISIT BY UK COFFEE BUYERS REKINDLES APPRECIATION FOR PNG COFFEE

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