Guyana has signalled its intention to block to Jamaica’s plans to import rice extra-regionally after the island sought an immediate suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET) on the commodity.
Sources close to the Ministry of Agriculture disclosed that Minister Robert Persaud made a statement to this effect.
According to the Jamaica Gleaner, on Tuesday local distributors and importers of the staple from Guyana threw their support behind the decision made by the Jamaica government. The move, announced Monday afternoon, is being made to secure supplies of rice from outside the region, for Jamaican consumers. The paper said the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce issued a statement on Monday saying that following discussions with leading players of the Guyanese rice industry, the government had moved for the suspension of the 25 per cent CET to ensure adequate supplies of the staple in the local market.
According to the Gleaner, the statement read, “Owing to the lack of any firm commitment from the government of Guyana, the ministry has moved to apply for an immediate suspension of the CET on 4,000 tonnes of rice per month for the next six months. This is a total volume of 24,000 tonnes of milled rice for the period May to October 2008,” it added. The article said too last Friday a meeting was convened among Jamaican rice importers; General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Jagnarine Singh, and a senior official of the Guyanese agriculture ministry.
“Jamaican importers have for several months indicated that they were unable to secure sufficient and consistent supplies, resulting in a tightening of supplies on the domestic market,” the article said.
No quantities
According to the article, the ministry’s release said the GRBD representative failed to advise on specific export volumes and could shed no light on why Jamaica was receiving insufficient quantities of rice.
It said the granting of the government’s application would possibly take two weeks for completion as the Caricom Secretariat would first have consultations with Guyana and Suriname.
Neither Persaud nor Singh was available for comment on the issue yesterday.
According to the paper, Derrick Nembhard, Managing Director of Jamaica Rice Milling, said on Monday that the current circumstances surrounding the importation of rice from Guyana are a repeat of last October’s incident in which, in the midst of its autumn crop, Guyana was reportedly unable to meet Jamaica’s demand for the food. At that time, Singh visited the island to allay Jamaican concerns, the article said. “This time the Government was more proactive as it stayed ahead of the game,” Nembhard told the Gleaner yesterday. “[It] means for consumers, they will have a continual supply of rice.”
Nembhard said importation of rice from the United States does not necessarily mean the commodity will sell at a more expensive price as Guyana prices are also escalating. Wayne Chen, chief executive officer of Super Plus Food Stores, a major rice retailer said that for the last year supplies from Guyana had significantly decreased, the paper said. “This is despite assurances from Guyana, but we are not getting the supplies we needed,” the Gleaner quoted Chen as saying.
