By David Jessop
David Jessop is currently on leave for two weeks so his regular column will not be appearing in this space during that period. However, for the benefit of Guyanese business people, we will be publishing a series by him explaining the provisions of the Eco
For a number of years in the late 1990s Caribbean rice producers in Guyana and Suriname were lobbying in Europe to try to achieve language in the Cotonou Convention between Europe, and African, Caribbean and Pacific states (the ACP) that would ensure greater access for exports of Caribbean rice to the EU. They were doing so because ACP rice was subject to a highly restrictive quota as a result of the concerns of Europe’s domestic producers in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and a complex tariff regime for rice originating from sources in South East Asia. They were also arguing for significant EU development assistance to help the industry improve its efficiency and develop a regional market.
Then rice producers were suffering from weak prices and low production levels, as cheap imported rice and US aid programmes supplying rice undercut the viability of regional producers. The regional market was also made more difficult as it was often the traders or processors in the Overseas Territories of Curacao, Aruba and Turks and Caicos who were the ones making money through a special European dispensation for partially transforming ACP rice by milling or packing and then shipping it on to the EU free of restrictions.