Mabaruma persisting: Brisk trade ongoing with Venezuela
Whatever the relations between Guyana and Venezuela, residents of border communities remain unrestrained in their conduct of a brisk trade in whatever goods and services they can offer each other.
From Venezuela, it is mostly oil that finds its way across the divide and into Mabaruma, with or without the knowledge of the authorities on either side. Fuel arrives at Mabaruma by boat from Venezuela to satisfy the ‘thirst’ of a community that would otherwise pay much more if it were to be flown in from Georgetown.
It is a fluid situation that changes from one period to the next. The circumstances that obtained last week and which have obtained from some time now have to do with the current economic crisis in Venezuela. Time was when the visiting boats came, sold their fuel and left. These days there is a thriving market for food in Venezuela so that rather than return empty the boats leave laden with rice, sugar, flour, milk, butter, toilet paper and farm produce among other items.
High demand in Venezuela for food from Mabaruma means that the businessmen there must find ways of moving larger volumes from Georgetown. The problem is that the ageing MV Kimbia which plied the route from Georgetown to Mabaruma is drydocked and the Lady Northcote which has taken its place lacks the capacity to move the volumes of goods necessary to sustain the trade with Venezuela. The Mabaruma businessmen would sell more to Venezuela if they had access to more.
The limits on capacity to move food from the coast to Mabaruma has given rise to the appearance of privately operated boats ready to pick up the slack. In most instances their charges to move cargo are around a third higher than what the state-run boat service charges. The fleet of small boats that do the Georgetown to Mabaruma run currently load cargo on the wharf just behind the old Giftland building.
At the beginning of 2016 one could buy fuel being imported from Venezuela at $400 per gallon. Last week the price stood at $800 per gallon. The explanation given to this newspaper at Mabaruma was that the spike in price was due to a production problem at a refinery in Venezuela. There are, however, other stories attached to the phenomenon including the creation of artificial shortages designed to push the fuel prices up. Whatever it is, the fuel trade is important to the miners, boat owners, truck, minibus and car owners and the various other businesses at Mabaruma. These days, the market in Venezuela for the agricultural produce taken back by the fuel boats is just as important to the other side.