PNG Government told to reduce cost of chicken as part of overall plan to reduce current high cost of living

The Wilmar CEO & Chairman, Mr. Khoon Hong Kuok says the price of Papua New Guinea’s chicken is three times the price of Chicken in Malaysia and other Asian Markets.

He pointed out that Wilmar International Limited is the largest and most integrated leading agribusiness group in the Asia Pacific Region and it is ranked amongst the largest listed companies by market capitalization on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Mr Kuok's remarks come after a meeting with International Trade and Investment Minister, Richard Maru this week in Singapore.

“We have large-scale rice and chicken operations in China and in Indonesia and we are very keen to partner the Government of PNG in these two areas initially and we are also happy for Papua New Guineans to buy into these two proposed joint venture companies.

“The price of chicken in PNG is three times the price of chicken in Malaysia. The main reason for this is the cost of feed.

“The price of chicken in PNG is simply ridiculous and unacceptable and the PNG Government has a duty to reduce the cost of chicken as part of its overall plan to reduce the current very high cost of living in PNG,” Kuok said.

At the meeting a suggestion made by Mr Kuok to Minister Maru is for the state to lease land based on the MoU signed last year for in-country chicken production.

Wilmar Interntional is determined to go into domestic production of feed to help reduce the price of chicken for the benefit of Papua New Guineans whose main protein is chicken.

Minister Maru assured Mr. Kuok that the PNG Government is ready with equity to fund the project under the proposed JV.

The joint venture will be an opportunity to stop the current annual imports of chicken worth K200 million and rice worth K900 and create more jobs, business opportunities for SME's and wealth creation opportunities.

“Our local farmers cannot get their supplies of day-old chicks constantly because we have shortage of day-old chicks in the country. This is a very serious situation that is resulting in loss of business for our farmers and our inability to meet the domestic needs of our people.

“The other issue is chicken and eggs supplied out of Lae are expensive because of freight. By investing in Port Moresby, we will reduce the cost of broilers, eggs, and day-old chicks.

“We also have to further reduce the price of the chicken by establishing domestic feed industry to reduce the cost of feed, and we may have to support the local feed industry by imposing tax on importing feed from other countries. These are some of the issues that the Government will seriously look at,” Mr Maru said.