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Venezuela took 35,000 tonnes of Guyana rice last year
By Malisa Playter Harry
A rice field on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two.
During last year, rice exports did well despite a major market to Venezuela was lost in 2015.
A whopping 540,000 tonnes of rice was exported for 2017 from Guyana. The previous all time high was in the year 2015 with 535,000 tonnes.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Nizam Hassan, exports to the Caribbean were extremely lucrative with Jamaica standing as a major market importing nearly 48,000 tonnes of rice from Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago took 28,000 tonnes while St Vincent and other islands managed to bring the total to 89,000 tonnes from Guyana last year.
Hassan was in the Black Bush Polder, Corentyne area for a meeting with farmers and other stakeholders. He had accompanied Agri Minister, Noel Holder, to the area on an outreach.
Europe imported 186,000 tonnes with Portugal, Italy and the United Kingdom leading with the imports.
There was also an increase in exports recorded in South American and Latin American countries with Mexico in the forefront. The exports were backed up by Cuba, Brazil and Nicaragua. Over 40,000 tonnes were exported to Panama in 2017.
There were also exports to the United States.
The private millers have also been doing well with the Venezuela market with over 35,000 tonnes exported to that country.
The CEO revealed that there was an increase in production of rice last year and based on the data for sowing; 2018 is expected to have a huge crop.
He stated that Guyana has a diverse base of rice and rice products that auger well for the country.
“We have seen increase in production and based on the data provided to me for sowing for this crop in 2018 we expect that it will be a very big crop if not the highest in terms of production and this is because of the responses from you and your colleague farmers have been putting towards the demands of the market.
“It is also because of all the services provided by all stakeholders (GRDB), the quality control efforts by GRDB as well as the private sector in terms of the Miller’s”.
The GRDB, through Nand Persaud and Company Limited, who are the producers of Karibe rice brand, had offloaded 7,500 tonnes of rice to be exported to Cuba in the last quarter of 2017. It was recorded as the first rice shipment to Cuba in 40 years.
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