If you have spent much time in Papua New Guinea you may not necessarily have heard of AkzoNobel, but you’ll almost certainly be familiar with its Taubmans and International brands of paint. In fact, AkzoNobel is the world’s largest paints and coatings company and employs more than 55,000 people worldwide.
Papua New Guinea isn’t just a producer of mineral and agricultural commodities. As its economy grows, so does a substantial manufacturing sector.
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).
Australian chocolatier Dean Morgan of Zokoko is one of an increasing number of gourmet chocolate makers discovering that the fine cocoa flavour of Papua New Guinean cocoa makes excellent gourmet chocolate.
Paradise Foods Limited is Papua New Guinea’s oldest established food manufacturer, with operations dating back to the early 1930s.
Papua New Guinea’s produce and products continue to find new markets overseas.
Papua New Guinea’s largest steel fabricator, Hornibrook NGI, provides of a wide range of products and services to the country’s mining and petroleum industry.
One of Papua New Guinea’s more colourful enterprises, Mainland Holdings, operates the world’s largest saltwater crocodile farm. But, as Business Advantage discovered on a recent visit to its Lae base, that is just one business unit in a rapidly-increasing portfolio.
S P Brewery, Papua New Guinea’s major brewer, possesses one of the country’s strongest consumer brands.