Shipment to Venezuela further delayed

Dec 07, 2009 News

Guyana/Venezuela rice deal…
The first rice shipment that was scheduled to leave Guyana for Venezuela last week is still to make its way to the Spanish-speaking country.
Kaieteur News has learnt that the vessel that will be transporting the rice is not even in the country. A source told this newspaper that it is hoped that the vessel will arrive shortly and the loading of the vessel will commence later in the week.
The source indicated that taking all those circumstances into consideration, the first shipment may leave this month end, three weeks later than what was expected. The source could not say from which country the vessel will be rented and at what cost.
However, a reputable rice miller had indicated that the rental of vessels is normally done by tonnage. Further, the miller said, ideally it will cost US$50 per tonne to rent a vessel.
Kaieteur News has learnt that a few rice millers have been identified to be a part of the group that will be supplying the 50,000 tonnes of rice to Venezuela.
The Saj Rice Group will be responsible for the first shipment which will be exclusively paddy. The source said that the government is hoping to ship a minimum of 3,200 tonnes or a maximum of 5000 tonnes of paddy this shipment.
When the issue of contractual implications was put to the source, in the wake of this recent delay, he said that he does not envisage a problem.
According to the source, the contract between the two countries is flexible and there are allowances for issues such as these. When the multi-million-dollar contract was inked last October, Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, said that the first shipment would have left in early November and the final shipment would have reached Venezuela next February.
When the first delay occurred, due to concerns raised by the Venezuelan officials about phytosanitary and other issues, Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, said that he was not overly worried.
Persaud said that he wanted to perfect every issue in relation to the deal so that Guyana can secure a permanent rice market to Venezuela. This latest shipment delay is as a major setback to the struggling rice industry.
Rice farmers were up in arms over the poor prices they were receiving from millers for their paddy. In their defence, rice millers indicated that they had already signed contracts and they could not offer more than $2,500 for a bag of paddy, which farmers contended was inadequate. The irate farming community said that an acceptance of such a price meant that they were operating at a loss.
The deal with Venezuela was seen as timely since millers indicated that, providing that the deal was successful they will increase the prices they were offering rice farmers.

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