NBPOL beef nets K14.9 million in 2011

By MALUM NALU

New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL), PNG’s largest producer of beef, produced 1.28 million kilograms of beef for the local market last year, which netted the company K14.9 million.

According to NBPOL’s 2011 annual report, the group remained the largest producer of beef in PNG, however, beef production would continue to play only a minor role in the overall investment strength of the group.

 “This does not mean that the beef production will not receive investment, or that beef production cannot be significantly improved to provide a valuable resource to supplement the earning capacity of the group, especially in areas where cattle and oil palms can be intercropped, or in areas where oil palms are unsuited as a sole commercial crop,” the report said.

“The group’s herd size showed some growth with 20,000 cattle managed in two separate locations.

“The group herd produced some 1, 284,000kg of beef for the PNG market, generating revenue of K14.9 million.”

The report said the herd at Ramu Agri Industries Ltd RAIL, at Leon Plains in the Markham Valley of Morobe province, had about 16,500 head of cattle, while the herd at West New Britain had about 3,500 head of cattle.

Cattle at Leron Plains Ranch in the Markham Valley of Morobe province.-Nationalpic by MALUM NALU

At RAIL, the feedlot had a capacity to finish up to 1,000 head 120 days prior to slaughter.

“The feedlot ration is currently based on sorghum silage, mill run, palm kernel expeller and molasses,” the report said.

“Good efficiencies and standards at the abattoir, combined with improved weights have yielded much improved quality in the final product.

“Additional investment in stock yards and machinery for both silage production and pasture improvement are all contributing to better efficiencies.”

Kina Aset Management Ltd posts K9.43 million loss for 2011

By MALUM NALU
Kina Asset Management Ltd (KAML) chairman Sir Rabbie Namaliu yesterday (Thursday) announced a net loss after tax of K9.43 million for 2011 at its annual general meeting at the Ela Beach Hotel in Port Moresby.
KAML, however, appears to be on the rebound this year with its first quarter report showing portfoliogrowth of 5% over the final 2011 quarter to a total of K39.6 million.
KAML generated an investment gain of K2.38 million in the first quarter ending on March 31, representing gain of 6.2%.
Sir Rabbie said the KAML portfolio had in the last year experienced some negative growth in line with world markets as the larger economies of Europe and the USA endured high unemployment, sluggish markets and low business and consumer confidence.

Sir Rabbie…negative growth in 2011 because of world markets

“The European nations of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain saw their credit rating deteriorate and concerns of sovereign defaults send shocks through global markets,” he said.
“Despite a series of economic interventions by their respective governments and financial institutions, international market conditions continue to struggle and remain volatile.
“The nations that had dominated the world in terms of trade and industrial development have suffered dramatic economic calamities as their domestic economies have suffered and in many cases failed because of instability.”
Sir Rabbie said the KAML investment portfolio contracted 24%, or approximately K12 million with the A&P/ASX 50 down 13.14% and the KSI down 22% in the 2011 year.
“The decrease in the portfolio value has been attributable to these international factors as well as the strong appreciation of the PNG Kina against other major currencies, contributing further to the negative impact on the international investment portfolio.
“KAML recorded a net loss after tax of K9.43 million for the year ending December 31, 2011.
Sir Rabbie said PNG had been fortunate enough to remain relatively unscathed from the effects of the global financial crisis and the slow recovery affecting the more-developed economies of the world.
“While it can be said that we are not immune to the global slowdown, the situation does provide us with an opportunity to learn from those challenges faced the US and Europe,” he said.
“However, the economic and financial turbulence in Europe and the US has allowed the epicenter of global market forces to shift closer to home with the larger developing economies of China, India and Malaysia emerging as the new dominant market forces, building and supplying the needs of a global market.
“These nations have been supportive of the growth and stability of PNG and to help our nation expand quickly in sharing the mineral and energy boom in the Asia-Pacific region such as our very own LNG projects.
“The PNG government and Central Bank, in their efforts to assist in the reigning in of domestic inflation, have continued to tighten monetary policy and bolster the PNG economy.”

Western province gas field produces excellent results

By MALUM NALU
Kina Petroleum Ltd (KPL) on Wednesday announced that its Ketu 2 gas condensate field at PRL (petroleum resource license) 21 in Western province had produced excellent results and is a strong candidate for development, The National reports.
The company, in an update to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday, said as a result of a recent review, KPL had assigned the field with an estimated mean contingent recoverable resource of 375 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas and 21.8 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil.
Ketu-2 had flowed gas at rates of over 20 million cubic feet of gas during testing by operator Horizon Oil.
This flow included condensate though this could not be measured accurately.
However, Horizon said this is expected to be in line with the 60 barrel of condensate per million cubic feet of gas ratio observed at Elevala-1.
Ketu-2 appears to have confirmed that the Ketu field has a lateral extent of at least 9km and a gas column height of over 50m, making it likely that a large upgrade to reserves is on the cards.
“The Ketu 2 well has produced excellent results and in conjunction with previously announced results from the Elevala/Tingu complex, have significantly raised expectation for development of a liquids project in PRL 21,” KPL managing director Richard Schroder said in an update to the ASX yesterday.
“The decision by the operator to begin early development studies for a liquids project is consistent with KPL’s view that an attractive development is emerging in PRL 21.”
KPL, in conjunction with its joint venture partners, continues to assess the mapping of the Elevala/Tingu complex after the drilling of Elevala 2 and Elevala 1.
KPL holds a 15% stake in PTL 21 with Horizon (45%), Talisman Energy Ltd (32.5%), and Diamond Gas Niugini B.V (7.5%).
“KPL’s volumetric calculations based on revised maps and new information presented by the operator have identified some positive differences in recoverable volumes calculated, and previously published, by KPL,” according to the update.
“KPL’s announcement of March 20, 2012, in respect of the Elevala/Tingu complex, advised an estimated mean contingent resource estimate of recoverable gas of 480BCF and 28MMbbls of condensate and a P10 estimate of 700BCF and 41MMbbls respectively.
“KPL’s latest estimates for the Elevala/Tingu complex are likely to be in excess of these volumes and require further technical discussions with the operator before they are released.”
The update said the overall outcome from the drilling of Ketu 2 and Elevala wells was that the estimated mean recoverable condensate resource for PRL 21 was now is excess of 50MMbbls of recoverable condensate, making a PRL 21 resource a strong candidate for development.
“The operator, Horizon Oil (Papua) Ltd has advised the PRL 21 JV (joint venture) that it will commence concept development studies in the second half of 2012, based on the successful results obtained so far within PRL 21,” according to the update.
“The PRL 21 JV is now also likely to drill the Tingu 1 well, with such well now expected to be drilled in the first half of 2013.”

Poetic magic of Ramu Valley

By MALUM NALU

RIGHT at the end of the majestic Ramu Valley in Madang province, the great Ramu River flows, at the crossroads of Madang, Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces.

Ramu River rolls away.-All pictures by MALUM NALU

The Ramu rolls away, as if on till Judgement Day, between the towering Finisterre Range of Madang province on one side, Bismarck Range of Eastern Highlands on the other, and the panoramic Markham Valley of Morobe province is just out this picture by the master painter.

The great Ramu River as seen from the suspension bridge linking Ramu Valley and Eastern Highlands province.

Afternoon in the Ramu Valley on Friday, June 15, 2012, as I stand on the banks of the Ramu mesmerised by the sheer poetic and sublime beauty of the place.



Arguably the best picnic spot in PNG on the banks of the Ramu River, bordering Madang, Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces.


I am here with well-known former beauty queen Sharon Onsa Pople, Miss PNG of 1993 and now the face of Ramu Agri Industries Ltd (RAIL), our driver and a security escort.
It is pure Ramu Valley magic!
This is the best picnic spot I've ever seen yet in this country on the banks of the Ramu - surrounded by Madang, Morobe and Eastern Highlands province - in picture-perfect settings.
I stand here on the banks of the Ramu, lost in my own little reverie, and feel like doing a Huckleberry Finn down the river, as he did in Mark Twain’s Missisipi River classic of the same name.

Ramu riverside scene.

Sharon jolts me, saying that she regularly takes her kids for picnic here and that RAIL employees raft down the river at weekends.
There is a footbridge which crosses from the sugar cane fields of Ramu, Madang province, across the mighty Ramu River to Eastern Highlands province, walking distance from Henganofi, used by Eastern Highlanders.

That's me on a suspension bridge linking the Eastern Highlands (background) and Ramu Valley.

I walk across the wire bridge and, presto, I am in Eastern Highlands, gazing down like the lion king on the endless realm of the river, palm oil and cane fields, against the magnificent backdrop of the Finisterre Range.
That is why, Sharon tells me, she has fallen in love with the place.

Canefields of Ramu Valley with the towering Bismarck Range of Eastern Highlands province in the background.

Earlier today, over the mountains of the Finisterre Range at Dumpu, I was shown the track to Shaggy Ridge, one of the most-famous Australian campaigns of WW11, which does not get as much attention as Kokoda Trail.



The gap between these mountains at Dumpu, in the Usino-Bundi area past Gusap, leads on the the WW11 icon of Shaggy Ridge.

 Shaggy Ridge was the site of several battles during the Finisterre Range campaign of 1943–1944 and, if things work out well, I might trek later this year.
I spent three lovely days in the valley last week, from June 14-16, visiting RAIL’s various projects in cattle, palm oil, sugar and ethanol.
After having not visited for many years, coming back to Ramu was a breath of fresh air, a chance to enjoy the freedom of the open plains, mountains and rivers of the Ramu and Markham Valleys which was part of my life as a young reporter in Lae in the 1990s.

Entrance to Surinam Palm Oil Estate.

All kinds of creature comforts here at the Ramu Guest House where I stayed, that you would have thought that you were in a 5-Star hotel.
These include an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, excellent bar at the adjoining Ramu Management Club, and restaurant which serves the best quality Ramu steak fresh from the paddock.

Children playing in picture-perfect settings at the Ramu Club against the magnificent backdrop of the Finisterre Range.

And to top it off, free wireless internet so I can work all night from my laptop!
The sugar town of Gusap, in my book, is one of the best and cleanest small towns in PNG for which cities like Port Moresby and Lae can learn from.

The sugar town at Gusap is one of the most-beautiful, clean and well-maintained in PNG.

Developments taking place in Ramu right now, since the giant New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) bought off Ramu Sugar in 2008, are nothing short of phenomenal.

The magnificent Finisterre Range towers over the Ramu Valley.

RAIL is carrying out massive multi-million kina expansion of palm oil in Ramu Valley of Madang province and adjoining Markham Valley of Morobe province after having its product rated as among the best in the world.
These projects included the biggest-ever 440km-long irrigation project in PNG using water from the Gusap River, building of satellite towns or “village estates” at Surinam and Dumpu past Gusap in the Usino-Bundi area, a second mill at Dumpu, and getting more out-growers from Ramu and Markham valleys.

That's me at the Dumpu Estate signboard along the Ramu Highway.

 Ramu palm oil was certified in 2010 by Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), meaning it is internationally recognised.

The massive palm oil storage tanks at Gusap in the Ramu Valley last Friday. The large yellow one can hold up to 1,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) while the smaller one can hold 250 metric tonnes of palm kernel oil.-

PNG’s first 100% locally made alcoholic drink – Ramu Rum – will be on sale in shop shelves later this year.
This follows the approval of production by PNG Customs to RAIL, although Ramu Rum has been produced for many years and is given as a gift to local and international VIPs.

Ramu Rum...to be on the shelves later this year.

“It will be the first spirit produced entirely in the valley from cane grown in the valley, processed in the factory producing molasses, and then used to produce rum,” general manager Jamies Graham tells me.
“Fairdeal and Trade Winds purchase ethanol from us to produce some of their bottles of spirit."
RAIL will increase its harvest of sugar to reach a production target of 43,000 tonnes per annum over the next five years.

Cane harvestor (left) and tractor at work in the cane fields of the Ramu Valley on Friday, June 15, 2012.-

Graham says this will meet the demands of the growing PNG market, as the company does not export its sugar.
He saysthe threat of weed and pests had been controlled, thanks to the company’s efficient research and development department headed by national scientist, Dr Lastus Kuniata.
Last year, RAIL produced about 36,000 tonnes of sugar from a total cane harvest of 397,000 tonnes.
RAIL runs the biggest cattle ranch in the country with more than 20,000 head at Leron Plains in the Markham Valley of Morobe province.

Cattle in a yard at the RAIL’s Leron Plains Ranch in the Markham Valley of Morobe province on Thursday, June 14, 2012.-

The cattle are are then taken to the feedlot at Gusap to be fattened and slaughtered.
Ramu Valley is truly one of the great food bowls of PNG and one of the most-beautiful places in the country.

Evening of Thursday, June 14, 2012, along the Ramu Highway at Gusap.

PNG coffee promoted in New Zealand

By AUGUSTINE DOMINIC
PAPUA New Guinea coffee has received much-needed promotion in New Zealand through the joint efforts of the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) Ltd and Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand (FTANZ), The National reports.

Neknasi Village in Nawae district, Morobe province, developed its coffee production and marketing with FTANZ.

CIC’s mobile coffee extension officer Michael Toliman, who was invited by Fairtrade CEO Steven Knapp to New Zealand last month, promoted PNG coffee and also had the opportunity to co-launch Auckland as the Fairtrade City of New Zealand with Auckland mayor Len Brown
Toliman highlighted the positive developments in the livelihood of rural PNG coffee farmers, who were selling their coffee under the Fairtrade banner.
He highlighted Neknasi Coffee Growers Cooperative, from Nawaeb district in Morobe province, whose members were beneficiaries of coffee marketing arrangements with Fairtrade.
More than 400 group members have opened individual bank accounts in Lae and are building permanent houses, purchased three trucks for the group, purchased a generator for lighting the village and were developing a water project.
Toliman toured various cities of New Zealand and informed the people that money spent on buying PNG coffee under the Fairtrade arrangement was creating tangible benefits in the lives of rural PNG coffee farmers.
He was invited to attend the Fairtrade Fortnight, an annual event that was launched in Europe in 1997 to encourage and promote products of third world producers to have a fairer market to sell their products and develop their economic capabilities.

Microbank: K1m in mobile dealings

By MALUM NALU
MORE than K1 million worth of transactions involving 20,000 people were carried out through Nationwide Microbank’s mobile phone banking technology since its introduction last November, starting in West New Britain province,
The grassroots-focused microbank is using cutting edge technology to bring banking services to the most-remote areas of Papua New Guinea, according to managing director Tony Westaway.
At the forefront of this is SmartPhone technology to open new MiCash mobile phone accounts, he told The National.

MiCash account opening agent in West New Britain.-Picture courtesy of NATIONWIDE MICROBANK

“We’ve got about a million kina’s worth of transactions,” Westaway said.
“We’ve got more than 20,000 mobile money MiCash wallets.
“We’ve got 24 agents, plus we’ve got our branch network.
“Our product is a mobile wallet and a bank account.
“It’s quite an innovative product.
“The bank account is sitting on a mobile phone
“We piloted Mobile Money in West New Britain in November last year.
“Our future is with mobile money and using people to help people in the villages and in the plantations.
“We send MiCash embassadors into the villages with SmartPhones, takes pictures of the customers and record their fingerprints or their mark, and the information is uploaded to our head office to open an account in six or seven minutes.
“It’s quite innovative.
“Cell phone technology has allowed us to reach out to the people, which has never been done so before.”
Westaway said internet banking was limited to those tech-savvy people with computers, while 85% of the people involved in the informal sector, had access to mobile phones.
“They certainly all have mobile phones,” he said.
“This has really been bringing the people into the first world.
“A lot of the technology used in PNG is cutting edge.
"It’s designed to overcome the geography of the place and these sorts of challenges.
“A lot of what we (Nationwide Microbank) do here is cutting edge and you won’t see it in the developed world.”
Westaway said there was a great, untapped market out in rural PNG for Nationwide Microbank.
“We don’t see any competition from commercial banks,” he said.
“There’s an opportunity here for financial institutions to assist the grassroots people.
“I don’t think any one organisation, including commercial banks, of that market.
“That’s our target market segment, on the bottom end of the pyramid.
“We don’t have corporate banking or commercial banking.”
Westaway said Mobile Money was a very unique product of Nationwide Microbank.
“We see a lot of opportunity here, particularly for the grassroots people, and particularly, for women.
“One of the interesting aspects of this money product is that it provides confidentiality and independence for women.
“We want to make a difference here.
“We started off with 25% of our accounts held by women, we’ve now lifted that to 34%.
“I think it’s growing, not only because of financial literacy, but because of our Mobile Money product called MiCash.
“It means that they can carry their mobiles around and nobody knows that they’re carrying their bank account.”

Nationwide Microfinance deposits soar up to K70 million

By MALUM NALU
Nationwide Microbank has deposits of about K70 million and a loan book of about K25 million to serve its more than 100,000 customers, according to managing director Tony Westaway.
He told The National yesterday (Monday, June 25) that from humble beginnings in 2004, starting as the Wau Microbank in Morobe province, it had since grown to become the bank with the second-largest customer base after Bank South Pacific, mainly focusing on grassroots people in the most-remote areas of PNG.
“Our deposits are roughly K70 million at the moment, our loan book is approximately K25 million,” Westaway said.
“We provide the opportunity for people to park their money.
“One of the most-difficult things for Papua New Guineans is to access financial services, indeed, to open a bank account.
“A lot of our customers have had difficulty in opening (commercial) bank accounts.”
All that is needed to open up an account with Nationwide Microbank is a letter from the village councilor or pastor.
“On the lending side, we provide loans for hatcheries, bakeries, farmers, transport,” Westaway said.
“We provide the whole gamut of financial services.
“We’re also doing a lot of developments in micro insurance and, hopefully, we will have a micro insurance product launched on the market place this year.
“One of the initiatives that we’re putting a lot of emphasis on is women’s banking.

Women queuing up at Boera village in the LNG project area to open MiCash accounts.-Picture courtesy of NATIONWIDE MICROBANK

“In February this year we appointed Gima Kepi as manager – women’s banking.
“We’re doing a lot of financial literacy training with women.
“We work with the likes of the Salvation Army and women’s groups, particularly from here in Central province, through the four villages around the PNG LNG plant site.”
Westaway said Nationwide Microbank started as an Asian Development Bank project in 2004, supported by the government of PNG and AusAid.
“Through this project, ADB had done a survey on microfinance in PNG and had realised it needed to contribute to people from the formal sector to the informal sector microfinance.
“So they created a pilot project up in Wau.
“This pilot became quite successful.
“It was called Wau Microbank.
“People driving the project and the Central Bank were quite excited and wanted to roll out the project across the country.
“So we changed the name from Wau Microbank to Nationwide Microbank to better represent the geographical spread.
“We now have 12 branches across PNG and we have 24 agents.
“We have over 100,000 customers, which is quite significant because this is the second-largest customer base after BSP.”