Guyana holds on to lucrative Panamanian rice market

Dec 06, 2018 News

Despite a major incident by a miller that threatened the Panamanian rice market earlier this year, Guyana has managed to secure another contract for the coming year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, it has inked another supply agreement for rice shipments to the lucrative Panamanian market for the period December 2018 through 2019.
The value of this latest contract is US$5.2M and will see the supply of 200,000 quintals equivalent to 9,075 tonnes of white rice over the next few months.
Shipment for the first set of white rice under this new agreement will start later this month.
This development comes in the wake of Guyana successfully meeting its quotas in a timely and consistent manner.
Statistics released by the GRDB indicate that over the last three years, Guyana shipped a total of 183,683 mt of rice. The dollar value of these shipments to Panama over the period stands at US$77,147,322M.
General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Nizam Hassan, has expressed his satisfaction at the performance of the industry and the confidence the Panamanian government continues to show in Guyana’s rice industry.

A sample of the rice sent earlier this year to Panama.

“We are doing exceptionally well at the moment despite the recent issue which occurred. Nonetheless, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) has secured and signed another contract and shipment will commence shortly,” he said.
Exports for January to November 2018, as compared to 2017, show a value of US$25,856,293 when compared to US$19,257,176 for 2017 for rice.
Hassan added that opportunities appear to loom large for Guyana’s rice industry as enhanced efforts are being made to ensure not only the security of existing markets, but that additional markets are secured.
The Panamanian market has impacted the price farmers receive per bag of paddy. It has also increased farmers confidence in the industry, which has manifested itself into increased acreages under cultivation, GRDB said.
Earlier this year, the Panamanian authorities halted shipments after it was discovered that the quality of rice they asked for was not what was in the containers.
Guyana had to send fresh shipments.
The matter was reported to the police and a rice miller has been implicated.
Some 60-plus containers are being thoroughly checked by the police Special Organised Crime Unit as investigators seek to determine how the wrong rice ended up in Panama.