News & Features
Highlands Leads Production
Western Highlands , Eastern Highlands and Simbu Provinces are the leading coffee growing areas out of the 14 provinces that produce coffee. They produce over one million bags (85 per cent) of the national crop. Western Highlands is still on top with 545,589 green bean bags, (46 per cent of the total production). Production continued to increased by 28 per cent.
Eastern Highlands and Simbu Provinces account for 340,355 green bean bags, (28 per cent) and 147,756 GBE (12 per cent) respectively. According to Coffee Industry Corporation coffee production statistics, Simbu recorded a 19 per cent increase in production in 2004 and 2005 crop year while EHP recorded a 16 per cent decline.

Morobe, the fourth largest coffee growing province, recorded a 60 per cent increase in its actual production and accounted for seven per cent (61,829 GBE) of the same years production. Enga and Southern Highlands contributed 55,821 green bean bags (5 per cent) to 21,629 GBE(two per cent) respectively while the smaller coffee producing provinces account for the balance five per cent in 2004/2005 coffee year.

East Sepik produced 5193 green bean bags, Madang 526, Oro 128, Central 247 the others Milne Bay , Gulf and East New Britain. Smallholder farmers produced 87 per cent of the total coffee production last year followed by plantations 10 per cent and block holder farmers only three per cent. smallholder sector production increased by 13 per cent compared to the previous year while block and plantations also increased by eight per cent and four per cent respectively.

CIC said that there was a slight increase in export volumes last year by 981 bags totaling 1.1 million green bean bags exported off shore. The industry said that the figure would be higher if coffee sitting in the remote parts were shipped out to the market. New Ireland and Western Provinces were reported currently going into growing coffee on a large scale.
<Source: Post-Courier: July 27, 2006>

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