By Svetlana Marshall
THERE are unconfirmed reports that rice from Guyana is being shipped to Venezuela via Suriname.Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman told reporters yesterday that “Venezuela is buying (rice) from Suriname and there are suggestions that some of our rice is travelling to Venezuela via Suriname.”

Four months before the PetroCaribe agreement came to an end, Venezuela in July 2015 issued a directive for Guyana to cease all paddy and rice shipments. Guyana had been supplying Venezuela with rice through the PetroCaribe agreement.

Venezuela stopped supplying fuel under the PetroCaribe agreement and ceased buying rice from Guyana and instead turned to Suriname for grain supplies as the Spanish-speaking country heated up its border claim, in wake of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s significant oil discovery offshore Guyana.

However, the Natural Resource Minister said the prospects for rice are looking up.

“The prospects look good but I don’t think we will get the preferential market that we got from Venezuela,” Trotman posited, while pointing out that soon a shipment of rice will leave for Africa.

Moving forward, he said the Government and the Private Sector must continue to work collectively in order to source additional markets for rice.

NEW MARKETS
As of now, he said government has been actively pursuing new markets in Europe, Mexico and in America, among other places. “I believe time will yield good results,” he opined.