Latest update April 7th, 2025 6:08 AM
Rice millers still reeling from loss of Venezuelan market– Millers and Exporters assoc.
Almost one year after rice millers and exporters were told by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) to take back rice originally bound for Venezuela, rice millers are still reeling from the effects of that directive.
Containers with rice shipments on the wharf
This is according to Rajindra Persaud, President of the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association (GREMA). Persaud said, while that rice was indeed diverted to other markets in the hemisphere, losses were incurred then and losses are being incurred now.
“Rice was diverted to other markets,” Persaud related in a recent interview. “The rice was sold to Panama and Jamaica. (But) Venezuela was buying about 200,000 tons (of paddy annually).”
“So we had to lower the prices to European Union and Jamaica (market) to sell the excess rice. So much so that we were selling below world market prices.”
He said that at present the price the millers are getting for white rice is between US$380 and US$400 per metric ton, while the price for paddy is approximately US$275 per metric ton.
Asked whether GREMA was considering any measures to recover whatever losses might have been incurred, Persaud replied in the negative. He did note, however, that all the rice that was ordered back has been cleared from the wharf, save rice which is currently at the centre of a court battle.
Some 270 containers of rice had been left on the wharf back in July 2015, following the directive from Venezuelan officials. The official explanation had been that their Guyanese counterparts were exceeding the shipping schedules. The total cost was estimated at US$5M.
The rice involved in court proceedings was supplied by Ramnarace Ramlakhan, of Ramlakhan and Son Rice Mill. Ramlakhan is a miller from Exmouth, Essequibo, who took the rice board to court after GRDB asked him not to follow through on 1,753 metric tons of rice left for him to deliver.
According to the writs, filed on August 4 and August 5, 2015, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) was named as the defendant and it was alleged that the body had agreed to purchase 3000 metric tons of paddy at the cost of US$480 per ton and 1000 metric tons of white rice at US$760 per ton between April and June 2015.
The writ had gone on to relate that after Ramlakhan acquired the 3000 tons of paddy and he supplied more than 1,200 tons to GRDB in the months of April, May and June 2015, GRDB advised him not to deliver the remaining 1,753 metric tons until further notice.
Ramlakhan was reportedly informed by GRDB that it would not purchase the remaining balance and furthermore, that he should make efforts to sell it elsewhere.
The Miller then sold the outstanding balance of paddy to another buyer at a rate per ton of US$240. Considering that the original price offered by the GRDB was US$480 per ton, Ramlakhan was claiming damages amounting to $86.2M for the paddy.
Ramlakhan had stated in his writ that in June, via oral agreement, GRDB had agreed to purchase an additional 296 metric tons of long grain white rice at the same rate of US$760 per ton. He had stated that this was delivered in the same month, but on July 28, GRDB instructed him to take it back. Ramlakhan had refused, demanding payment instead.
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