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New Venezuelan rice deal being finalized despite ongoing unrests – Agri Ministry
Government says that its rice exports to neighbouring Venezuela will not be affected by ongoing unrests there which left several dead over the past two weeks.
The situation has raised worrying questions whether the multi-billion dollar oil-for-rice deal between the two countries will be threatened as Venezuelans are calling for President Nicolas Maduro to pull back the economy
Guyana and Venezuela is finalizing a new rice deal and there is no need to worry despite ongoing unrests there, the Agri Ministry assured yesterday.
decline of that country.
One of the areas Maduro is under pressure for is the Petro Caribe oil concessions with 17 states, including members of CARICOM. Under the deal, the countries are sold oil cheap under concessionary rates and with options to pay over a 20 year period.
Yesterday, Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy disclosed that a new rice deal is in its final stages with exports to Venezuela expected to resume operation once all the logistics has been completed between the two Governments.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, last week, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), was inked between La Casa, on behalf of the Venezuelan Government, and Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Geoff Da Silva.
“We have made progress in completing arrangements for shipment of rice to begin. There are three stages in terms of the annual shipment of rice to Venezuela… at the end of every year, we have to have a period of reconciliation in order for Venezuela to issue payment to the Ministry of Finance,” Ramsammy said.
In the past, the reconciliation process, which is a critical one in the Guyana/Venezuela rice deal, took months to be completed. However, this year this has been completed in a much shorter time and shipments are now closer to recommencing.
Last year, under the 2013 deal, Guyana had to deliver 140,000 tonnes of seed paddy and 70,000 tonnes of white rice, valued US$128.8M.
However, the Ministry said that 110,000 tonnes of white rice and 88,000 tonnes of paddy were shipped to the Spanish-speaking country. “There will be a change in paddy verses white rice and once the contract is inked we will announce that, but the MOA has already established those numbers”, Minister Ramsammy said.
With the MOA already inked, the final stage of the Guyana/Venezuela agreement is near completion. This would include the purchasing order and shipment schedule.
Harvesting for 2014 first crop has already started. Already shipments have started to Europe, the Caribbean and to new destinations, the Ministry said.
The loss of the rice market would be a worrying one for Guyana with the Venezuela deal seen by farmers and Government as an assured one. It is even more lucrative from the perspective of the cheap oil deal.
In recent days however, there has been calls from regional academics who believe that the Petro Caribe deal is not likely to last, with countries urged to take steps to lessen the impact when that happens.
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