Government tells Chinese company to start building Madang’s Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, new Tourism Minister unimpressed with Tourism Promotion Authority and second LNG ship is named Kumul. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

The government has told China Shenyang International Corporation (PNG) to start work on phase one of the US$95 million (K296 million) Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) project in Madang, says Trade, Commerce and Industry minister Richard Maru. He says the government will also seek additional funds for the second phase of the project. Phase One is due to be completed within 33 months.

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Tourism Minister Tobias Kulang. Credit: PNG Facts

Tourism Minister Tobias Kulang says the marketing performance of the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority has been ‘mediocre’.

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The second PNG LNG project custom-built ship has officially been named Kumul in a ceremony in Shanghai, China. The Kumul will be operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, and is expected to arrive in PNG late next month.

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Oil Search reported a US$39.4 million (K123 million) full year loss for 2015, compared with the previous year’s US$353 million (K1.1 billion) profit after what it called ‘one of the most challenging years in recent history for the oil and gas industry’. The company blamed the loss on a US$400 million (K1.24 billion) write-down on its Taza oil discovery in Kurdistan to zero value. No other impairments were made. It reported a ‘core’ profit of US$359 million (K1.12 billion), down 25 per cent from the previous year.

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KK Kingston CEO, Michael Kingston, says PNG coffee and other agriculture exports stand to gain price advantages because of the depreciation of the kina against the US dollar.

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Enga Provincial Government has partnered with Innovative Agro Industry in a project worth K23 million to grow and supply fresh fruit and vegetables.

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Cocoa exporters, Agmark, is exporting 270 bags of high-grade cocoa beans to Haigh’s Chocolates’ factory in Adelaide, Australia this month. It marks the return of the cocoa industry in the province, following the impact of the cocoa pod borer disease and El Nino last year.

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Gold miner St Barbara says its Simberi mine in New Ireland has produced 110,488 ounces in the year to April, exceeding a target of 100,000 per annum.

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Nambawan Super CEO, Garry Tunstall says he expects to release details of an understanding the fund has reached with the government over a K2 billion debt owed to the fund.

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The Institute of National Affairs Director Paul Barker has commended the government for helping the small-to-medium enterprise sector grow. But he has warned that costs involved in growing the businesses have to be reduced.

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Nationwide Microbank has reported an operating profit of K169,990 for calendar year 2015.

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Australian premium chocolate producer, Charley’s Chocolate Factory in Mission Beach, Queensland, wants Bougainvilleans to increase cocoa planting now to take advantage of an expected global shortage in a few years.

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The Parties to the Nauru Agreement has unanimously decided to maintain the Vessel Day Scheme, by which member countries allocate a number of days per vessel to foreign countries that want to purse seine fish for tuna in their waters.

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Clive Palmer. Credit: Hotcopper

And finally, there is concern in New Caledonia’s nickel industry, after calls to liquidate Australian MP and businessman Clive Palmer’s cash-strapped Queensland Nickel company, a mainstay of New Caledonia’s economy. Nickel mining supports a quarter of the nation’s private workforce, directly and indirectly.  The plant had been the sole destination for laterite nickel ore from New Caledonia.