TWO containers with the first shipment of rice left for Panama on Tuesday and the second monthly shipment is being readied, according to Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy.

“We are hoping that the ship arrives this coming week,” he told the Guyana Chronicle, further explaining that the shipping arrangement is a “Free On Board” (FOB) one, with Panama arranging for the ship to transport the rice.
The monthly shipments see the exporting of 5,000 tonnes of white rice to the Central American country.
Panama’s rice imports currently stand at 150,000 tonnes annually, in addition to their own rice production and the rice deal, which was signed by the Panama’s Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Estebana Giron Dias, and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) General Manager, Mr. Jagnarine Singh, will see Guyana exporting 50,000 tonnes, of the 150,000 tonnes, to Panama.
The remaining 100,000 tonnes, according to Dr. Ramsammy, could be supplied by Guyana’s private sector, since the two Governments agreed on levelling the playing field for Guyanese companies to be able to bid to supply the remaining tonnage. At present, Panama’s private sector controls the local food market, making it an open market.
On this note, the Agriculture Minister, in a prior comment, had indicated that Guyana’s private sector has been successful in competing with USA suppliers in Panama. In totality, Guyana will see close to 30,000 tonnes of rice being shipped to the Central American country.
With the new export markets secured in 2014, Guyana is expected to export between 475,000 to 500,000 tons for 2014 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, from a production of 535,212 tonnes, which was far above the original target of 413,000 tonnes.