Notwithstanding the challenges occasioned by the advent of COVID-19 during much of 2020, the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) is reporting an increase in the volume of its traditional agricultural exports with coconuts, pumpkin, watermelon, heart of palm, and eddo, leading the way.
A release from the state-run agency which has been playing a pivotal support role in the agricultural sector, including the agro-processing sector, said that during last year the country recorded a 9% increase in the export of non-traditional agricultural commodities between January and December compared with exports in 2019, the constraints arising from the still-raging pandemic notwithstanding.
Last year a total of 9,907 metric tonnes of non-traditional agricultural produce valued at $2.5 billion (US$12 million) was exported. This increase was due primarily to a 20% (8217 metric tonnes) and 44% (419 metric tonnes) increase in the export of dried coconuts and coconut water, respectively.
Meanwhile, in keeping with its sobriquet as the bread basket of the Caribbean, the GMC recorded a 110% (2,194 metric tonnes) increase in exports to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries. Antigua, Barbados, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, were Guyana’s largest regional exports in 2010.
With airline travel hobbled by COVID-19-related restrictions during much of last year, 99% (9805 metric tonnes) of the country’s agricultural exports were transported by sea, representing a 14% increase in shipped produce, compared to the year 2019. A modest 102 metric tonnes of non-traditional agricultural commodities, representing 1% of such exports were exported via air in 2020. This represents an 82% decline in exports via air, the result of the temporary cessation of flights by Caribbean Airlines in 2020 due to the forced closure of the country’s international airports in compliance with protocols associated with airline travel put in place to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
The GMC said in its release that restrictions in the movement of cargo occasioned by the pandemic resulted in sharp declines in the export of mango, bora, boulanger, pineapple, eddo, and peppers last year, compared with 2019. Most of these commodities are exported mainly to Canada and the USA. Increases in the export of coconut water, pepper sauce, achar, cassareep, and preserved fruit, were also recorded last year.
The release said that the Corporation “will continue to create linkages between buyers and sellers of non-agricultural commodities” and to make possible “the ongoing facilitation of the use of the Corporation’s Packaging Facilities.”
