– prior to shipping rice
THE inking of a deal earlier this year that will see Guyana supplying 5,000 tonnes of rice to Panama on a monthly basis is expected to begin at the end of September. Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, on Monday, reported that two technical persons from Panama are travelling to Guyana to examine the rice factories.This, he explained, was due to the fact that Guyana has to satisfy the sanitary standards of Panama. The factories will be examined and testing of rice done before Panama approves the shipment.
Regarding the Panamanians, he noted that their visas had to be processed, and they will arrive before weekend.
Minister Ramsammy stated that the deal is proceeding as planned with four shipments organised for September, October, November and December, 2014.
“We call this arraignment, Guyana is providing the packaged rice and Panama is providing the ships. So the shipping responsibility is Panama,” Minister Ramsammy was quoted by the Government Information Agency (GINA) as saying.
Pointing out that Guyana has been working with Panama to ensure timely shipments; he noted that obtaining the packaged rice is not a problem. The Minister stated that for the packaging of 5,000 tons, “we have the rice available and packaging arrangements in place.”
Guyana has been advised that the ship should be available in the last week of September for the September shipment, “so it appears the shipping arrangements being made from Panama will target the end of month shipping. That means end of September, October, and November and so on, so that always leaves flexibility to the other man, so it could run into early October.”
“We are ready for Panama,” Minister Ramsammy declared.
He added that the mills being used are the Techno Mill in Eccles and Ansag Rice Mill for the packaging, for this first shipment.
However, he explained that this will not be for all shipments, as in the future all the rice mills that can meet the requirements will be engaged.
In August the deal was announced by the Minster and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). The deal was signed by Panama’s Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Estebana Giron Dias, and the GRDB General Manager, Jagnarine Singh.
The agreement was signed at the Office of the Minister of Agriculture in Panama City and followed a meeting in Colombia between the Presidents of Guyana and Panama.
With this new export for 2014, Guyana is expected to export between 475,000 to 500,000 tons this year and to reach about 550,000 tons in 2015. The actual export target for 2014 was 460,000 tons. The export in 2013 was 394,000 tons.
