– Agriculture Ministry
A significant increase in local rice production during the month of September coupled with various worldwide disasters that have affected global rice and wheat production, have created the prospects for improved prices for Guyana, according to the local Ministry of Agriculture.
“We are predicting prices will rise and Guyana may stand to benefit. One of the possible effects for Guyana is that there is the likelihood that the country’s rice might be able to attract higher prices on the international market. That is good at a time when the industry is heading for another bumper crop,” the Agriculture Ministry declared in its September 2010 Commodity Market Update.
High rice yield during the month of September has upped local rice production to 197,170 metric tonnes for the year so far.
The most recent issue of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Commodity Market Update indicates that over the past few months several of the world’s rice-growing countries have faced problems associated with floods and drought resulting in a lowering of the global rice production forecast by five million tonnes to 467 million tonnes. The global outlook for the production of cereals indicates that this is likely to fall 1 per cent below production in 2009 while wheat production is estimated to dip 4.7 per cent below last year. According to the Commodity Update wheat and rice prices have risen to fresh heights in recent weeks as a result of what it describes as “a variety of freakish weather conditions across the world.
Despite the note of optimism sounded in the Commodity Update regarding likely higher prices for locally produced rice it warns that the impact of “high and rising grains prices on Guyana” could result in a high degree of substitution in feed formulas which can stem from higher wheat and corn prices. The Update cautions that “should the price of feed rise internationally, the local poultry and agriculture industries may experience a substantial increase in their cost of production, thus affecting their international competitiveness as well as domestic inflation.”
Local rice farmers will be keen for a measure of respite from a sharp reduction in rice prices last year following higher prices in the two previous years. Information contained in the Ministry of Agriculture Commodity Market Update for September indicates that the quantity of Guyana’s rice exports increased by 25% during January to September, compared with the corresponding period last year. Most of this increase was accounted for by a 24% January to September increase in rice sales to the European Union compared with sales for the corresponding period last year.
European markets that accounted for the increase in export sales include Belgium, Holland, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom while, outside of Europe, Guyana also recorded increased rice sales to Panama and Venezuela.