Sugar, beef and oil palm are the three platforms on which Papua New Guinea agricultural company, Ramu Agri Industries (RAI) is based. Expansion is planned for all three, following the company’s September 2008 acquisition by New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL).

Ramu Agri Industries’ General Manager Jamie Graham says RAI’s broad strategy is to ‘continue to produce sugar for the country’s needs, expand and develop oil palm, and intensify the beef enterprise.’

In a market where per capita sugar consumption was an estimated 6.8kg in 2009, Ramu Sugar is one of PNG’s most recognised brands. Global firm Booker Tate is now managing operations for Ramu Sugar in Madang Province, from planting through to packaging, which has streamlined the business.

Jamie Graham expects growth of sugar production to be incremental, as previous to acquisition there was insufficient capital investment in machinery and crop maintenance: ‘In the last three-to-four years, Booker Tate has been focusing on improving the age profile of the cane and working on getting the yield up. That is the strategy there.’

Unlike sugar, palm oil is a comparatively new product for RAI, but new owner NBPOL has operations in five areas of PNG, the Solomon Islands, and a new refinery in Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

Graham says planting of palm oil has increased from 7,000 hectares when NBPOL took over in 2008, to just over 10,000 hectares in 2010. He says there are plans to expand plantations and operations at the local palm oil mill. ‘It’s currently running at 30–35 tonnes an hour,’ Graham says. ‘Next year we want to get that to 45 tonnes an hour.’ At the end of 2010 palm oil was US$1,200 a tonne—approaching a 10-year high. ‘Demand is far outstripping supply, ‘says Graham. ‘Our strategy is to produce sustainable, traceable palm oil—which we are doing in West New Britain and Ramu—where both operations are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).’

Given about 55% of beef consumed in PNG is currently imported, Graham says there’s also great potential in the company’s beef operations. RAI produces high quality supermarket beef products for the top end of the market. The focus is on improving pastures, improving the amount of water available to the animals with the purchase of a deep drilling rig, and eventually moving to smaller pastures. ‘We have commenced a program where we plan to improve 500 hectares a year, which is quite ambitious. We are working on improving the breed by bringing in bulls from the West New Britain operation. We have an ambitious artificial insemination program,’ Graham says. The company is also looking at embryo transfers once quarantine protocols are finalised.

This article first published in Business Advantage PNG 2011/2012