Bridgetown, August 26 (RHC/CaribNews.com) -- Guyana says it will make its first shipment of rice to Cuba in September following negotiations with the Cuba side over the past few months.
Guyana’s Rice Development Board General Manager Allison Peters said the shipments to will start in the third week of September.
Guyana rice exports have also been going to Mexico and Panama.
Rice is a staple in the diet of the Cubans, and the island has had to import millions of tons of the product annually, from far away markets like China and Vietnam. Cuban purchases of rice and other agricultural products from the United States recorded a growing trend some years ago, but have dwindled as a result of advance cash payments and other demands on the US side.
Rice production in Guyana was recorded at over 518 thousand metric tons in the first crop of 2017, and the authorities estimate it will have increase by 1.3 per cent at the end of the year.
