Guyanese cagey on rice contracts - Won't agree to long-term deals
published: Wednesday | April 9, 2008


Richard Deane, Business Reporter


Stacks of packaged rice in a supermarket. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Already hit by steep increases in basic food prices, it appears that consumers could be further burdened by a spike in the price of rice - a popular staple in the diets of Jamaicans.

The imminence of the price spike has emerged as Guyanese suppliers, who provide over 40 per cent of the rice consumed in Jamaica, have refused to lock themselves into the usual half-year contracts, raising fears among Kingston's importers of escalating prices during the current crop.

"There has been a change in the way that they have approached the issue of supply," said Bruno Loffler, the CEO of Jamaica Rice Milling, a major importer and miller of Guyanese rice. "In this current crop the Guyanese are only committing one shipment at a time."

In the past the trade would be based on six-month forward supply contracts,but with world market price for the commodity fluctuating in recent times, the Guyanese apparently want to keep their options open.

"They are watching to see what will happen," Loffler told Wednesday Business.

Jamaica and Guyana are members of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a trade and political organisation that has been attempting to harmonise into a single market.

Strengths

The arrangement provides Guyanese growers with an advantage in the Jamaican market, but their situation is further strengthened by two factors: increasing Jamaican demand and the upward swing, globally, in food prices.

During the first 11 months of last year, for instance, Jamaica's rice imports jumped seven per cent, to 93,000 tonnes, driven in part by mid-year storms that damaged domestic agriculture. During the period supplies from Guyana increased by 13 per cent, to 41,500 tonnes, compared to the same period in 2006.

Yet, Guyana, with other markets beckoning its suppliers couldn't meet all of Jamaica's demands, helping to drive up prices here. The retail price of rice jumped over 50 per cent.

Increasing supplies


STERN

Towards the end of last year Jamaican importers had predicted that projections of a good spring rice crop would not only ease supplies, but also moderate prices.

But a global spiral in the cost of the commodity, helped by bad weather in Asia, where supplies from countries such as Cambodia and China, appears to be undermining such analyses.

In the circumstance, Jamaica is hoping to increase supplies from the United States, where costs have increased by about 27 per cent over last year - from $1,950 to $2,475 per 45kg bag. Loffler hopes that the US suppliers, most of whom are locked in six-month contracts, will meet up to half of Jamaica's demand.

In the case of Guyana, their price has jumped approximately 33 per cent over last year, but at the current $2,375 per 45kg bag, it is still a little over four per cent cheaper than American rice.

Michael Stern, Jamaica's junior trade and commerce minister said he was aware of the rice supply situation and the fact that the Asian shortage was competition for the output from Guyana and Caricom's rice producer, Suriname.

Last year CARICOM agreed to Jamaica's request for a relaxation of trade rules to allow the island to buy more rice from outside the community. Stern said that the Jamaican Government was watching the current Guyana harvest before coming to a decision on whether to make another such request.

"This can top up demand but we are hoping for a bumper crop," Stern said.

richard.deane@gleanerjm.com

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080409/business/business1.html

This will be an incentive to bring much more rice under cultivation in Guyana.

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
This will be an incentive to bring much more rice under cultivation in Guyana.

There is one problem. Rice farmers and sugar workers are migrating to join their family abroad.. This cannot be stopped.. Every family in Guyana has a member who is in North America..

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
This will be an incentive to bring much more rice under cultivation in Guyana.

There is one problem. Rice farmers and sugar workers are migrating to join their family abroad.. This cannot be stopped.. Every family in Guyana has a member who is in North America..

Well if the price is right some might re-migrate.

quote:

Rice farmers and sugar workers are migrating to join their family abroad..

this is a very big problem

Mahaicony (where a lot of rice is grown) gets flooded out frequently. Lots of farmers have abandoned lands.

Good to see a Guyanese Industry that can compete in the global economy. We should allocate more resources to the rice industry.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
This will be an incentive to bring much more rice under cultivation in Guyana.

There is one problem. Rice farmers and sugar workers are migrating to join their family abroad.. This cannot be stopped.. Every family in Guyana has a member who is in North America..

Doesn't it make you wonder why? Had it not been for the PPP's failure on crime, why would they want to come with such great opportunities posing themselves in Guyana. Anyway, I think they could still do it via improved techniques and meachanization.

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
This will be an incentive to bring much more rice under cultivation in Guyana.

There is one problem. Rice farmers and sugar workers are migrating to join their family abroad.. This cannot be stopped.. Every family in Guyana has a member who is in North America..

Doesn't it make you wonder why? Had it not been for the PPP's failure on crime, why would they want to come with such great opportunities posing themselves in Guyana. Anyway, I think they could still do it via improved techniques and meachanization.

banna, guyanese are migrating because they want to unite with their families and to experience life in NY. Toronto and London. They want to earn the big bucks like their families do.. Crime has nothing to do with migration. It was their before 1992 when half a million guyana migrated setting the stage for an exodus..

quote:

Crime has nothing to do with migration.

if yuh ask most people who emigrate nowadays, they will say crime and the economy are the reasons...years ago it used to be getting the kids superior education and running away from Burnham

quote:

Originally posted by raymond:

quote:

Crime has nothing to do with migration.

if yuh ask most people who emigrate nowadays, they will say crime and the economy are the reasons...years ago it used to be getting the kids superior education and running away from Burnham

Crime only speeds up the process. The Economy has always been the Reason why people migrate to greener pastures and "life in london"

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by raymond:

quote:

Crime has nothing to do with migration.

if yuh ask most people who emigrate nowadays, they will say crime and the economy are the reasons...years ago it used to be getting the kids superior education and running away from Burnham

Crime only speeds up the process. The Economy has always been the Reason why people migrate to greener pastures and "life in london"

That's a damning condemnation of the PPP and yet you are an ardent and blind supporter. You are being very contracdictory or have no idea. I am not their supporter, yet I give them more credit on the economy and critize them on crime and security. Any 3rd world country will be at an economic disadvantage to the developed nations, yet however, if security is there and people could make a living and see they can improve themselves, then alot would not take the step and chances in a strange and foreign land. The economy does play a part, but on pure economics, lot of immigrants suffer alot in the developed countries. Many families are desimated and suffer due to the separation. With all it's limits, live in a secured and stable Guyana offers lots of pluses.