Panama rice market not under threat - GRDB

Panama rice market not under threat – GRDB

Sep 28, 2018 News

– quality control systems strengthened

Panamanian authorities reportedly checking what was delivered.

Assurances have been given by General Manager of Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Nizam Hassan, that there is no threat to the lucrative Panama market for Guyana’s rice.
This assurance comes amidst reports of local rice being rejected by Trinidad then being shipped to Panama. This resulted in the Central American country refusing 20 containers of rice.
With regards to the effect, basically the buyer said, “No this is not what we want; it cannot come; so take it back and send us back our rice.”
“We will have to replace the rice that was not received. The authorities understand that it is a contract between the GRDB and the Institute of Agricultural Marketing in Panama; they know that the GRDB itself is not a producer of rice,” Hassan explained yesterday.
Hassan said he has no knowledge of the rice being previously rejected by Trinidad and repackaged for the Panamanian market.
“We have no information of rice being shipped to Trinidad and being returned to Guyana. When rice leaves here, we would have all the documents and if returned, plant quarantine would have been involved. We have no information of this happening,” Hassan told the Department of Public Information (DPI).
Further, the GRDB Head said there is an ongoing investigation to determine whether there was a deliberate effort to deceive on the part of millers or it was a genuine operational error.
In this case, the rice was reportedly shipped by Cayume Hakh and Sons.
“We are still investigating to identify whether it was an operational issue or whether it was a deliberate effort. I cannot comment on that because the investigation is in progress. If it were an operational issue, because from our reports thus far, the miller is using this packaging facility that bags and packages white rice and parboiled rice using the same line.
“However, we have only just received photos saying this is what we found. It does not necessarily mean that an entire container has parboiled rice, it may have been a few bags,” the GRDB head explained.
According to Hassan, systems have now been strengthened to prevent a recurrence of any similar situation.
“Let me say that all systems have been heightened with regards to inspections, quality control checks with respect to shipments to this buyer, that’s the first thing.”
Guyana exported some 540,000 tonnes of rice for 2017, which saw its highest numbers since 2015 when a total of 535,000 tonnes were recorded. The GRDB is the agency responsible for certifying rice being shipped from Guyana to overseas markets.
Stakeholders have called for a comprehensive investigation into the problem and the resignation of GRDB Board and Agri Minister, Noel Holder.