Photo: MP John Simon
Local coffee farmers of Robusta Coffee in PNG will now have the opportunity to export and sell their Robusta Green Beans to Dubai as talks to open trade between the two countries is set to become a reality. PNG’s Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, John Simon said PNG Robusta coffee will be selling at K10 per kilo which is equivalent to the price of Arabica Coffee which is currently selling double the price at the United Arab Emirates.
Minister Simon said he had made arrangements to ship the first two bags of Robusta green beans in his District in MapriK, East Sepik Province to Dubai as part of an agreement with the Coffee marketer in Dubai. The minister said he travelled across the world to look for a potential market for coffee and having been told that there is a market for Robusta in Dubai is exciting news.
“Robusta coffee is not bought at the price it is worth. Because we are told that Robusta is low grade compared to Arabica, Well I have news for all the Robusta coffee growers in the country that we now have a market for you"
Minister Simon Stated that “ Countries such as Jordan and Italy have a demand for this coffee right now as well as other parts of the world, they need Robusta to blend Arabica. Without Robusta there is no coffee”.
He said on his trip to Dubai he was advised that PNG’s Robusta is organic and has a much better premium quality than that of Brazil and Vietnam (The two Biggest Coffee growing countries in the world)
The minister said his duty now was to get policy papers in order to go before Cabinet and convince the government to open a trading partnership with Dubai. Minister Simon has also called on the government to do away with the traditional trade system and address bio security as an effort to increase trade with other countries.
"I understand that it is a long way including issues of trade however, We can look at better alternatives on how to get the Market off the ground"
"We need to change from our traditional trading partners and look elswhere. We have been doing business with them for so long. We cannot export coffee and other Agricultural food to Australia because they have bio-security issues. Australia has given us Aid after Aid but have not helped us with bio security issues"
He said, Dubai has no Bio Security issues and are ready to market any of PNG's agricultural products to the world.
