GENERAL Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (RPA), Dharamkuar Seeraj Wednesday disclosed that the ongoing negotiations between Venezuela and Guyana to renew their rice trade agreement are likely to be concluded next week.

“Right now we are hoping to expand the current agreement where we supply 110,000 tonnes of white rice and 80,000 tonnes of paddy to Venezuela,” he said.
According to him, Guyana is looking to increase its market shares in existing markets as it simultaneously continues talks with new markets.
He said, “The marketing process is one that will take time. We have to take our product to these new countries and meet the local people before we settle on an agreement.”
Seeraj added that the current trends are encouraging as it relates to the expansion of shares in the rice market.
“Venezuela is a good partner. They like our rice, the quality is good so the indications are that they will continue to trade with Guyana,” he said.
The RPA Head pointed out that in Haiti, an existing market; Guyana is looking to increase its foothold in light of the encouraging trends.
He acknowledged that there is a fall in the price for rice, but told the Guyana Chronicle that this is not likely to affect Guyana.
Seeraj stated that on the whole the dynamics of the rice markets often result in a fluctuation of the prices for rice.
“The rice trade is a dynamic trade because there are many variables that can have an effect on trade, but the one constant in trading is the fact that consumption has continued to climb across the globe, in line with population increases,” he said.
The General Secretary was confident that the prices farmers received last crop, between $3,800 and $4,000 per bag of paddy, is likely to be the same for the first crop of 2014.
He said harvesting of the first crop will begin in a limited way in the latter part of February, while the majority of harvesting will be done in March.
The production target for the first crop of 2014 is 270,000 tonnes and Seeraj expressed confidence in meeting the target.
The production for 2013 is 535,212 tonnes, which is far above the original target of 413,000 tonnes, and reflects a 27 per cent increase over the production in 2012. The average production per hectare is five tonnes.

(BY Vanessa Narine)