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Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY) shifts focus to new tech, global outlook

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ASX:PPY      MCAP $5.520M
06 November 2020 08:22 (AEDT)
Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY) - Managing Director, Ramy Azer

Source: The Advitiser

After some early missteps, Papyrus Australia (PPY) is making strides with its agricultural waste fibre manufacturing and technology business.

Papyrus Egypt

PPY’s early experiments with producing banana veneer and paper products in far north Queensland proved fruitless.

So far, the company’s joint venture (JV) foray in Egypt has proven more promising.

Reduced labour costs and a renewed focus on proprietary technology has seen PPY’s Egypt JV enjoy greater commercial success.

The Papyrus Egypt JV with the Egyptian Banana Fibre Company (EBFC) has proven profitable, turning waste banana tree trunks into a raft of saleable goods including paper, fertilisers and fibre moulded products.

The successful Egypt experiment paves the way for Papyrus to licence its novel technologies across the huge global market of banana and plantain growers.

The New tech

The repositioning of the company as a technology licensor stands to provide a streamlined pathway to further profitability without the burden of associated manufacturing operations.

Bananas and plantain are grown on over 10 million hectares in 164 countries, predominately in the developing world.

United Nations data indicates there are over 25 billion banana and plantain trees under cultivation worldwide.

PPY’s unique tech would enable the up-cycling of waste into saleable products, providing the company with a potentially huge revenue stream, and developing nations with enhanced commercial opportunities from limited resources.

Both PPY and its cornerstone investor, L39, see the licensing, construction and sale of micro-factories globally as the best pathway towards enhanced revenues and profitability.

Monthly sales from the Egypt JV have increased by almost 93 per cent since July, and this is expected to increase further as more products are added to the production repertoire.

With proven, patented technology — and more up-cycling processes in the pipeline — Papyrus seems to have found its niche.

Papyrus Australia is up a staggering 270 per cent to 7.4 cents at 1:50pm AEDT.

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