Rice exports up by 43%

…new markets open, earnings pegged at $23.2B

AS the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) wraps up its 2018 first crop, results from January to June show an export volume increase of 87,000 tonnes as compared to the same period last year.

This was revealed by the General Manager, Nizam Hassan. “When we look at the figures compared to the first half of 2017, we saw first that the total volume that has been exported is 290,000 tonnes which is 43 per cent more than the 203,000 tonnes that was exported during the first half of 2017,” Hassan said. The increase has so far earned the country GYD$23.2Billion (US$111Million) this year against the value of the export for the first half of 2017 which was GYD$16.1Billion (US$77Million).

The general manager attributed the increase to the determination of rice producers and millers to meet production targets and more so Guyana’s access to new markets, particularly in Latin America. “We’ve seen some significant increases in some of the blocs, for example, exports to Latin America jumped by 215 percent. In the first half of 2017, we did 64,000 tonnes as against 202,000+ tonnes in the first half of 2018.”

Standing out for exports was Mexico and Cuba, taking a total of 133,000 tonnes–45,000 and 88,000– respectively. Both countries did not take during the January to June exports of 2017. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo facilitated access to the Mexico market. The above mentioned comes as approximately 99 per cent of the country’s rice lands cultivated having been harvested. For the first crop of 2018, approximately 508,000 tonnes of paddy have been produced, equivalent to 330,000 tonnes of rice.

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