Laga Industries is a big name in Papua New Guinea manufacturing, producing, blending and importing a wide range of foodstuffs, condiments and beverages. Originally formed in 1975, a merger with Trade Winds Liquor in 2008 dramatically broadened its suite of products.

Credit: Laga Industries

Today, it produces a range of ice cream and freezer dairy products, vegetable oils, health and beauty care products and condiments and seasonings under brand names including Highlands Meadow oils and Gala ice cream. Its alcoholic beverage labels include Trade Winds Spirits and the Moscow and Cougar brand pre-mixed drinks.

General Manager Phil Kelly is bullish about the future, saying the company is investing and in the last year has boosted employment levels by 80 to around 500 people. ‘Growth has been in the mid-double figures in the last few years,’ Kelly says.

Some of that employment jump came with the opening of a new production line for bottled drinking water which ‘is a new beverage for us,’ according to Kelly. Other new developments include an extrusion machine to produce the plastic preforms from which much of the company’s food and beverage containers are made.

‘The introduction of the water line was the spur to the investment in extrusion. Water is such a high-volume product, we decided to put in the extrusion machine to blow the preforms for the bottled water,’ Kelly explains.

Lae-based Laga is also investing in its traditional ice cream business. ‘We’re very much into developing our ice cream, which is the cornerstone of our business. We’re investing a lot of money into that this year, putting another 400-odd freezers out there [into retail stores that stock Gala Ice Cream] and putting new equipment into our manufacturing plant,’ says Kelly.

First published in Made in PNG 2012