PNG Forest Products is an industry leader in Engineered Wood Products across the South Pacific, Australasian and Southeast Asian regions. Their extensive range of products and services for the domestic and export markets include pressure treated pine timber and plywood; kit homes and prefabricated buildings; modular bridges and bridge decking; and project construction & infrastructure development.
In fact, PNGFP is the largest supplier of timber housing & infrastructure projects in the South Pacific, having delivered more than 10,000 buildings. PNGFP supply PNG's only kit-set buildings engineered to PNG and Australian building codes, that are preservative pressure treated to fully protect from termites and rotting.
The construction division, NiuBuild, has built well over 2,000 buildings in PNG including numerous mining and exploration camps; over 1,000 school buildings; and supplied hundreds of education and health facilities throughout the country.
Innovation is at the core of the company’s success, as reflected by PNGFP’s Managing Director, Tony Honey: “We are producing and exporting some really innovative and interesting engineered wood products that are value adding to an otherwise basic piece of plywood.”
“Modular bridges and bridge decking into Australia & New Zealand; specialised railway bridge re-decking in Sydney; sound barriers along Australian highways and rail corridors; scarf jointed bus & train floors for Australia, NZ & Malaysia, and the list goes on.”
Employing over 1,300 Papua New Guineans, PNGFP is committed to building a better future through sustainable manufacturing practices. All timber is sourced from renewable pine plantations managed by the PNG Forest Authority. Sawdust and wood chip waste from the mills are utilised to power the boilers for the veneer driers and kilns.
PNGFP also works in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Conservation to ensure that the best environmental practices are maintained. Furthermore, PNG Forest Products is the only company in PNG that has achieved PEFC Chain of Custody accreditation on the basis of 100% controlled wood.
PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) is an international organisation that promotes sustainable forest management through independent third-party certification. PNGFP’s Chain of Custody certification demonstrates a commitment to sustainable forest management that is unique in this country.
As a further commitment to sustainability, the company’s manufacturing facilities in Bulolo are powered by their own hydropower stations which they continue to invest in heavily.
PNGFP recently commissioned their fourth power station at Baime, to feed 11.6MW into PPL’s Ramu grid, and raise their capacity to supply PPL to a total of 21MW. The combination of renewable timber resources processed with sustainable hydro power makes PNGFP’s engineered wood products truly and uniquely 100% green.
Over almost seven decades, PNGFP has evolved and grown through innovation and diversification -- from plywood to Engineered Wood Products, to Independent Power Production, and more. In Bulolo PNGFP operate a supermarket, bakery, butchery, liquor store, hardware store, service station, country club, abattoir, poultry farm and a 600-hectare cattle farm, all servicing the town and surrounding districts.
“Our future lies in adding value to our resources, whether it be timber, land or water,” says MD Tony Honey. “Improved recovery from our log supply is essential, as is developing new products for our Pacific Region. Continuing our diversity through power generation, forest products, and poultry and cattle operations develops employment and sustainable income. Continuing reinvestment in our business is the key to our continued viability and the core to our future success.”
