Rice millers raise export challenges with President
A wide range of concerns relating to export challenges were raised by the Guyana Rice Millers and Exporters Association during a meeting with President Irfaan Ali, who has since committed to assist exporters in finding costeffective solutions.
With issues such as increased freight, transportation and labour costs, along with a congested wharf and the unavailability of containers, the association informed the President of their daily challenges.
Ali on Wednesday met with rice millers from regions Three, Four, Five, and Six at State House to discuss the issues plaguing their exports.
Rajendra Persaud, who represented Nand Persaud and Company, one of the country’s largest millers and exporters of rice, related that the team of millers were pleased with the outcome of the meeting. He explained that for several of the issues, the President was able to recommend working solutions.
“The meeting was successful. It was short but we were able to achieve what we had set out to address. We are happy that the President was able to offer some solutions and committed to finding solutions to problems that we couldn’t solve there,” Persaud emphasised.
According to Persaud, the association sought to engage the President after recognising that their challenges have grown and there have been few solutions in place to address them.
He noted that within the past 3 to 4 years, there has been a noticeable increase in wharf charges, labour costs, and transportation costs from the wharf to the scanners, among others.
With these increases, the exporter said it was agreed that it was necessary to meet with the President to find solutions.
“For instance, with more boats coming to the wharf for oil and gas, we have found it to be congested to operate so the President suggested that the GuySuCo Wharf be utilised. This is something we are happy for but we will have to visit and assess what works will be needed and how best we can use that wharf,” Persaud explained, before stating they will have to work on finalising this deal.
Exporters have been utilising the John Fernandes wharf to ship their products out of the country. The wharf is said to be the busiest at the moment as there are many activities taking place there.
Persaud pointed out too that they raised the issues of rising transportation costs between wharves to the Guyana Revenue Authority Scanner at Lombard Street.
He said that the return price for just transporting containers has doubled within the last year from $9,000 to approximately $19,000. He explained that this was largely due to the increased demand for trailers and trucks to transport containers. The majority of these are being used by companies in the oil and gas sector to transport
their shipments of materials and machinery.
Further, Persaud noted that while they used to pay $8 and $9 per metric tonne as wharf fees the cost has now jumped to $14 per metric tonne, further cutting into their profits.
One of the solutions put forward, Persaud said, was to reduce the commission made to the Guyana Rice Development Board. He stated that it was suggested for the exportation of rice, the commission be reduced to $6 from $8 for a metric tonne while the commission for paddy be reduced from $6 to $4 per tonne.
Additionally, Persaud noted that they are also faced with the challenge of container shortages, an issue across the global shipping sector. He added that as a result of the pandemic even if they book containers early it is not guaranteed that they will be able to export their produce in a timely manner to customers.
Also discussed during the meeting with Ali was the need for research to improve their yields.
He noted that from a market assessment, the rice yields in Brazil are higher and if Guyana wants its rice exports to remain competitive on the world market, they will have to look at other varieties of rice that produce higher yields.
“This discussion will have to continue to the GRDB and the Minister of Agriculture. If we want to be competitive we will have to do the research and determine what the best variety is, for us to plant,” he added.