Did Jamaica shortchange Guyana over rice purchases?

Oct 02, 2008 News

General Secretary of Rice Producers Association, Dharamkumar Seeraj says that the information available to him at the moment suggests that Jamaica will buy the remaining 28,000 tonnes of rice on hand.
He noted too that for Jamaica to not buy the rice from Guyana would mean that the country purchased more rice than it disclosed or that it intends to purchase even more from the USA without the waiver of the Common External Tariff.
This comment was made by Seeraj even as Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, stated that his country will not be able to purchase its full 60,000 tonnes quota of rice from Guyana this year. During an interview with Kaieteur News, Samuda said that the decision is not because of any unwillingness to purchase rice from Guyana, but because Jamaica has already met its local need for the commodity.
At present, Jamaica has purchased just over half of the amount it had committed to purchasing from Guyana annually.
Samuda said that this decision was as a result of two Common External Tariff (CET) waivers that Jamaica got, and as such imported rice from the United States of America.
The importation of rice from the United States, he said, was done because of Guyana’s difficulties in supplying Jamaica during the first three months of the year.
But according to Seeraj, the CET waiver that Guyana agreed to earlier in the year was with the understanding that Jamaica would purchase enough to ensure its demand was met but would continue to purchase from Guyana when the crop came on stream.
Early in the year, Jamaica had applied for suspension of the CET on rice for a six-month period.
However, Guyana objected to the request on the basis of its ability and readiness to supply the quantities required by Jamaica.
Last year, Jamaica bought over 51,000 tonnes of rice from Guyana.
When asked why Guyana just did not seize the opportunity to package the stalled shipment of rice and thus adding value and export to trading blocs such as Europe, Seeraj said that it would require a huge investment.