–local exporter had fallen short in rice supply
By Ravena Gildharie
On the heels of reports claiming a shortfall in rice exports from Guyana to Jamaica, local rice authorities continue to iterate that there is no local shortage of the commodity, and that Guyana will fulfill the demands of that Caribbean market.
However, the authorities have admitted some ‘hiccups’ in the trade of rice to Jamaica due to one exporter not having enough rice to supply his Jamaican buyers. That exporter, Nand Persaud Milling Company of Region Six, reportedly has 13 rice buyers in Jamaica.
A source within the local rice industry explained that, in the last rice crop, farmers from the Corentyne, East Berbice, Region Six, opted to transport their paddy to Regions Five and Four, where they were receiving better prices. This resulted in limited supplies to Nand Persaud. The trader had reportedly since been limiting his supplies to the Jamaican buyers, until he completely ran out of stocks about a week ago.
Other Guyanese exporters who are sending rice to Jamaica, the source said, have enough stocks that could satisfy the Jamaican market, but the buyers in that country are reluctant to pay the prices demanded by the local rice traders.
The current price for Guyana rice traded to Jamaica averages US$430 per tonne for cargo rice; US$587 per tonne for white rice, and US$675 per tonne for parboiled rice. These prices are similar to what is offered in the trade with the United States, Europe, and other Caribbean countries.
Additionally, there have been some claims that most farmers are opting to send their produce to the Guyana/ Venezuela rice deal, thus creating a shortage of supplies for other buyers. This new deal, though, only caters for white rice traded at US$700 per tonne, inclusive of necessary shipping costs; and US$420 per tonne for paddy exports.
But while the Guyanese authorities hold out that there is no shortage of rice in Guyana, they have imposed a halt in paddy exports to Venezuela until rice production picks up in the current crop. Last year, over 300,000 tonnes of rice was exported, whereas production stood at around 360,000 tonnes. The rice officials had verified, too, that unlike previous years, there was not a large amount of rice brought forward to 2011 from the previous year’s production.
Rice prices had also started soaring on the local market earlier in the year, and there were cries about shortages of that commodity.
However, the Agriculture Ministry refuted such claims and started selling rice at various locations through the New Guyana Marketing Corporation. The Jamaican rice market has a demand of between 40,000 and 45,000 tonnes of rice, and this amount has been rising, reaching as much as 48,000 tonnes, which Guyana supplied comfortably.
On Thursday, one of the exporters, Golden Fleece, dispatched a vessel to Jamaica fetching 2,200 tonnes of rice. Nand Persaud has also since restarted trade with Jamaica. In a media report earlier in the week, the Jamaican government said that their rice market has been shortchanged because of challenges facing Guyana’s industry.
The Jamaican Commerce Minister, Karl Samuda, said that his country is expected to experience a shortage of rice for the next two weeks because of ‘challenges’ reported of the Guyana rice industry. The Jamaica Observer quoted Samuda as saying, “We have been experiencing a bit of shortage of the Guyanese rice on the market because Guyana had a bad crop, but that has been supplemented by the supply from the United States, and things should be normalized within the next two to three weeks, because we are expecting supplies to resume. That’s what we are working on, so the consumers need not panic about it.”
The local rice officials have reportedly drafted a correspondence to assure Jamaican Investment and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda that there are adequate supplies of paddy/rice in Guyana, based on recent consultations with Guyanese exporters to Jamaica and a check of the current stock record in the country. The officials noted that Guyana has met its obligations for the rice demand of the Jamaican market over the last five years, and is committed to continuing doing so.
The Guyanese rice authorities also maintain that all registered rice exporters are sending stocks to Jamaica. While the drafted correspondence highlights that one company is currently sending a large shipment of cargo rice to Jamaica, it noted that other companies, such as Sea Rice, Stock Feed, Caricom and Abdool Hakh, have been exporting to the Jamaica market on a regular basis.
General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, has since refuted claims by Jamaica’s Minister Samuda that Guyana is experiencing a shortage of rice caused by a bad crop, although he admitted there are some challenges, such as the current La Nina weather condition that currently obtains.
Comments are closed.