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Venezuela agrees to take “cheaper” Suriname rice
Venezuela has signaled intentions to take excess rice from neighbouring Suriname, putting a dent on any hopes that Guyana may have had about reviving an oil-for-rice deal.
It appears that Venezuela is not interested in taking rice from Guyana anymore.
Suriname media reported yesterday that the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, during a visit there on Friday, spoke to President Desi Bouterse about the possibilities of taking some rice.
The rice silos in Nickerie are reportedly full and Bouterse has asked Venezuela to take off some. The commitment is one of the concrete outcomes of the meeting Friday.
“We have decided to deepen trade relations and will intensify the implementation of the rice agreement,” Maduro said at a news conference Friday.
Venezuela is a major rice market, stressed Bouterse. ”The foreign ministers have an explicit mandate to deepen trade relations and to ensure the import of rice from Suriname,” he added.
President Bouterse noted that it is irrelevant whether Suriname can cover the total rice requirement of Caracas.
“What we have…we should try to sell it.”
Similar to Guyana, Suriname would be hoping that Venezuela would pay for the rice under the PetroCaribe arrangements.
That decade-old arrangement had been seeing Venezuela supplying oil on concessional terms to states around the region. The countries are required to pay a percentage of the monies owed on the oil upfront.
In Guyana’s case, for over five years now farmers and millers have been supplying rice with the monies owed to Venezuela for oil discounted.
But Venezuela has not signaled any intentions to renew the deal with Guyana when it expires at the end of November.
The two countries are at odds over a revived claim by Venezuela of Essequibo and sections of the maritime areas under Guyana’s control.
Already Guyana has eased on taking oil under the Petro Caribe arrangements from Venezuela and is now receiving supplies from Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana is now actively seeking new markets but with harvesting ongoing for the last crop, there is real worry about the excess rice.
Rice has been the biggest foreign currency earner for Guyana within the last year after gold slipped from world prices.
The Venezuelan rice market this year itself has not been without troubles.
More than 800 containers of rice have been stuck at the congested wharves there. Guyana may still have some shipments remaining from this year’s quota.
Under this year’s agreement, some 120,000 metric tonnes (Mt) of paddy along with 84,000 Mt of white rice have to be supplied to Venezuela. The deal was worth around US$113M.
But the Government of Guyana is resigning itself to the fact that the rice deal with Venezuela may be over, especially with the Suriname arrangement that is now more than likely to be in place.
Reportedly, Suriname is agreeing to take half of what Guyana was getting for the rice and paddy shipments.
Venezuela itself is facing food shortages with Maduro’s refusal to renew the deal seen as placing pressure on the recently sworn-in administration of President David Granger.
Both Guyana and Venezuela have agreed for the United Nations to intervene in helping to resolve the border controversy.
Already a technical assessment team from the UN has visited both countries and will be returning next month for more talks.
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