GEORGETOWN: Guyana’s rice exports increased by six per cent during up to October this year, compared with the same period in 2014, but a significant drop in the world market price for the product has resulted in reduced export earnings.
Acting General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB,) Nizam Hassan, said Guyana exported 437,448 metric tonnes of milled rice in the last 10 months, and 412,228 metric tonnes for that period in 2014.
But with Guyana not getting the higher than above market prices that it was getting with Venezuela – which has decided to stop buying rice from Georgetown – the dollar figures are not looking as good.
“In 2014, almost 30 per cent of the market that we exported to was Venezuela, for which the country and the farmers were receiving higher than above world market prices for the rice and paddy they exported there,” he said.
In 2014, Guyana received from Venezuela, US$480 per metric tonne of paddy. White rice, being traded now, ranges between US$390 and US$398 per metric tonne. This is compared to US$780 that was received by Guyanese exporters and millers for export of the same commodity to Venezuela last year.
Since 2014, Venezuela had notified the then Guyana Government that it would no longer be taking rice from Guyana. The loss of this market was only made public when the government changed in May of this year. Since then, efforts to secure new and expanded markets for Guyana’s rice have intensified.
However, with the loss of the market, Guyana has now seen an increase in exports to CARICOM countries – Antigua, Barbados and Belize – and to the European Union (EU).
With an aggressive marketing strategy spearheaded by the GRDB and the private sector, and with support from the Ministry of Agriculture, the country is set to soon secure other new markets for the country’s rice and paddy.
Hassan said that for its part, the GRDB is actively involved and has been discussing potential buyers for Guyana’s rice and paddy.
The country is on the verge of securing the Mexico market. Mexico is a large importer of rice, taking in about one million tonnes on an annual basis.
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