The management team of a Sri Lankan large-scale coconut-based food and beverages manufacturer/exporter, met with the Minister for International Trade and Investment Richard Maru, to express their keen interest to set up a coconut processing plant in Madang Province under a Joint Venture arrangement with the local investors.
Joindi Export Pvt Limited has two processing plants in Sri Lanka and, under the brand name econutrena’. They offer expanding and diversified product portfolio, ranging from coconut cream, coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut sugar, coconut butter, coconut whipping cream, coconut ice cream, coconut vinegar, coconut virgin oil, coconut water, coconut flour, coconut chips and coconut milk drinks (to name a few) to their worldwide clients including supermarket chains and high-end supermarkets, food companies, hotels, and the cosmetic industry in Europe, North America, Japan, Australian, Germany, Netherland and other developed countries.
Minister Maru said that their products are 100 percent organic and are certified under different local and international certifications including USDA Organic, Fairtrade, ISO 22000, Control Union Certifications, Business Social Compliance Initiative, and others.
“Our government together with the Madang Provincial Government are very keen to work in partnership with the Joindi Export and Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK) to develop the proposed processing plant in Madang that would have the capacity to process up to 100,000 coconuts per day to produce high-end coconut products. This is a long-overdue initiative, and I am so delighted that they are keen to start this project. We have been waiting for partners to help us to go into downstream processing of our coconuts to produce high-end products for the global market.”
“Coconut industry is one of the industries in our country that has been around for a long time, but we have been semi-processing and that is one thing that our country and our government does not want anymore. We do not need to export coconut oil anymore. We want to process our coconuts into final products to maximize our value, create more jobs, and encourage the industry to grow if our people can see a better value,” he said.
Minister Maru said Joindi Export’s already have big clients in Australia including Woolworths and it is cheaper to supply Australia from PNG rather than from Sri Lanka.
“The biggest thing is, we must offer a good price to the farmers for the coconuts so they will be attracted to supply the nuts to the processing plant. This is critical. The products manufactured in the proposed plant must also carry the ‘PNG Made’ logo so the world will know that these coconut products are from PNG,” he said.
Minister Maru encouraged the investor to provide him with a full investment proposal outlining the capacity, production, equity, and the financial and operational viability of the project.
“We look forward to receiving Joindi Export’s full investment proposal next week,” said Minister Maru.
He confirmed that equity will not be an issue.
“I will also work very closely with the Madang Provincial Government to secure 10 hectares of land in Madang for this very important investment that will transform the coconut industry in PNG.
“I want to thank the Managing Director of KIK, Mr. Alan Aku for arranging this important investment mission for this company to meet with me and other key stakeholders,” added Minister Maru.