‘We are ready for Panama’ – Minister Ramsammy

– as Guyana awaits Panamanian officials to examine factories before rice shipment sails

The deal inked earlier this year that will see Guyana supplying 5000 tonnes of rice to Panama on a monthly basis, is expected to become a reality at the end of September. Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy on Monday reported that two of the technical persons from Panama are travelling to Guyana to examine the rice factories.

This, he explained, was due to the fact that Guyana has to satisfy the sanitary standards of Panama. The factories will be examined and testing of the rice done before Panama approves the shipment. The minister noted that the Panamanians’ visas had to be processed, and they will arrive by this weekend.

Minister Ramsammy stated that the deal is proceeding as planned, with four shipments organised for September, October, November and December. “… Guyana is providing the packaged rice and Panama is providing the ships. So the shipping responsibility is Panama’s,” Minister Ramsammy explained.

Pointing out that Guyana has been working with Panama to ensure timely shipments, he noted that obtaining the packaged rice is not a problem. The minister stated that, “we have the rice available and packaging arrangements in place”.

Guyana has been advised that the ship should be available in the last week of September for the September shipment, “so it appears the shipping arrangements being made from Panama will target the end-of-month shipping. That means end of September, October, and November and so on, so that always leaves flexibility to the other man, so it could run into early October”.

“We are ready for Panama,” Minister Ramsammy declared. He added that the mills being used are the Techno Mill in Eccles and Ansag Rice Mill for the packaging, for this first shipment. However, he explained that this will not be the case for all shipments, as in the future all the rice mills that can meet the requirements will be engaged.

In August, the deal was announced by the minister and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). The deal was signed by Panama’s Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Estebana Giron Dias, and the GRDB General Manager, Jagnarine Singh.

The agreement was signed at the Office of the Minister of Agriculture in Panama City and followed a meeting in Colombia between the Presidents of Guyana and Panama. With this new export deal, Guyana is expected to export between 475,000 and 500,000 tonnes this year and to reach about 550,000 tonnes in 2015. The actual export target for 2014 was 460,000 tonnes. Exports in 2013 totalled 394,000 tonnes.