​Competitive cash crop buying in Bougainville

Cocoa and copra buying in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville is now very competitive with buying depots everywhere.

Cocoa especially is the topic on everyone’s lips; searching for the best market around the region while local village buyers are going for K2 per kilo.

In Buka alone, the leading cocoa buyer now is Sankamap Exports with K535 per bag. It has now attracted farmers on Buka Island.

The highest buyer on Bougainville is the STI cocoa buying depot in Arawa – K600 per bag – while all others are on K420 and K480 per bag. There are a lot of middlemen and black market cocoa buying operations going on too.

A cocoa farmer from the west coast of Bougainville, Patrick Miaro, told Loop PNG that due to the price increasing, production has also soared.

“This is very good for all of us farmers here on Bougainville, more particularly us here on the west coast. We’re very happy with the price of cocoa right now,” Miaro said.

“The only thing we’re now concerned about is that our buyers here on Bougainville really need to know the market report before imposing their own prices, because we do not want to be fooled when other centres in PNG are buying on a much more higher price.”

(A new cocoa facility being purchased by Bougainville Commodity Exporters.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author: 
Peter Tseraha