Our rice for their oil; this is the payment scheme for the revised US$21.7 million Venezuelan deal and it means that the Government of Guyana is responsible for paying local millers.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, in a recent correspondence with Stabroek News, said “payment will be done [to Venezuela] from payments for oil supplied [to Guyana] under the PetroCaribe deal”.
The Venezuelan rice deal was first inked on October 21 last year. Shortly afterwards, General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Jagnarine Singh had told this newspaper that an element of bartering was involved in the payment for the rice and that the government would only be responsible for paying “some” of the money to GRDB who in turn would pay the millers.
A senior official in the industry, who declined to be named, explained to this newspaper that the government must pass on the payment for oil to Venezuela who in turn pays for our rice from those proceeds. Indirectly, the official said, we are paying ourselves for the rice.
Last October the deal for 40,000 tonnes of paddy and 10,000 tonnes of white rice to be exported to Venezuela was signed at a value of US$18.1 million. However, in late February this year a team visited the neighbouring state to renegotiate the conditions of the contract. As a result, Guyana was able to secure high prices for both paddy and rice thereby increasing the contract’s value to the current US$21.7 million.
Under the revised contract, Guyana will earn an additional US$90 per tonne of paddy and US$140 more per tonne of rice. When the deal was first struck the prices per tonne of paddy and rice were US$330 and US$560, respectively.
In a correspondence, composed by Singh and forwarded to Stabroek News by Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, it was stated that so far this year three shipments of paddy have been sent to Venezuela; MV Levanty with 4,206 tonnes, MV Saltina with 5,051 tonnes and MV Emstor with 4,017 tonnes. Last year the Pacific Clipper transported the first shipment of paddy to Venezuela.
Further, the MV Santa Paula is currently at the John Fernandes wharf and is expected to be loaded with about 2,5000 tonnes of paddy. This shipment is expected to leave for Venezuela by tomorrow.
Singh advised that three shipments have been scheduled for July. MV Saltina and MV Emstor will be making second voyages and the latter will return for a third shipment.
Meanwhile, the GRDB Manager also said that the shipping of white rice under the contract will commence on Saturday this week. Singh explained that 1,500 tonnes of white rice will be shipped twice every week from that date until the agreed amount is supplied.
It was at a meeting in New York (at the United Nations General Assembly), Persaud recently informed this newspaper, that President Bharrat Jagdeo made an arrangement with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for the supply of rice.
This, Persaud said, is an effort by government to “assist millers in their quest for new and more lucrative markets, and is in keeping with government policies to ensure the sustainability of rice production”.
Persaud further said: “This is an area that was in the hands of the private sector and we would have seen that it was the ‘bottle-neck’ in the rice production and marketing process. With only a few buyers for rice to the EU and Caricom markets we would have seen a constant decrease in the price for rice.”
The Venezuelan market, according to Persaud, “has helped to stimulate the upward trend of price for the purchase of paddy from farmers”. Millers have been asked to pay accordingly for paddy, Persaud continued, to ensure that farmers benefit from the increased price being by Venezuela.
Persaud has also stressed that the Venezuelan market is not being pursued at the cost of others. Guyana, according to him, is still concentrating on its traditional markets. His ministry, he said, is currently looking to strengthen its supply to Caricom.
