Sugar and Rice
production stable
A GINA release – August 22, 2003
Guyana’s three major industries –
rice, sugar and bauxite, have not collapsed in recent years as
stated by Opposition forces.
In fact, these industries have shown fairly stable performances.
The Government Information Agency’s (GINA) research has
disclosed that far from being in a state of collapse, there have
been some encouraging performances by the rice and sugar industries.
And there are genuine and sincere efforts by the PPP/C Government
to rescue the bauxite industry from the bankrupt state it inherited
in 1992 from the PNC/R.
In the Sugar sector, 2002 production was record-breaking. The
production was the highest since the privatization of the sugar
industry in 1976.
Production totaled 331,000 tonnes. Among the estates that peaked
last year were Blairmont, Wales and Uitvlugt.
Figures of sugar production since 2001 revealed that there were
increases from 6.8 tonnes per hectare in 2001 to approximately
7.3 tonnes per hectare in 2002.
Simultaneously, sugar exports increased from 252,000 tonnes in
2001 to 282, 000 tonnes in 2002. For the first time, last year,
Guyana exported sugar to Haiti, which had requested 10,000 tonnes.
Of this amount, 7,500 tonnes was exported.
Rice production in 2002 encountered a 10 percent decrease over
its 2001 yields. This was largely due to heavy rainfall at the
end of the first crop, during which farmers suffered great losses.
Farmers' loss in the first crop affected land preparation, among
other things, for the second crop.
Paddy bug infestation also contributed to the decline in rice
production.
For this year, production has been stable. Currently, according
to Chairman of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Jagnarine
Singh, the demands for rice are higher than supply. Some 170,
000 tonnes of rice is projected for the second crop, surpassing
100, 000 plus tonnes that were harvested in the first crop. Currently,
the local and export markets demand is 193, 000 tonnes. This means
that the markets are available for the crop.
Last month 4,000 tonnes of rice were exported to Haiti and another
10,000 tonnes are expected to be exported from the second crop.
Also, one of the largest importers of Rice in Jamaica, imported
more than 4,000 tonnes from Georgetown and hopes to import another
18, 000 next month.
Meanwhile, arrangements are in place for 8,500 tonnes of rice
to be shipped to Brazil next month. This is outside of the Partial
Scope Agreement.
Guyana's annual rice exports average 200,000 tonnes. Of this amount,
20,000 tonnes are exported to Jamaica, while two 44,000-tonne
shipments are exported to the European Union.
As a means of boosting the rice sector, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname
have made a proposal for paddy exports to the Caribbean rice importer,
Jamaica. The proposal outlines that the countries would maintain
their usual share of the Jamaican rice market - Guyana 50 percent
and Suriname two percent, while any amount of paddy sourced from
within the region would be discounted from the 65,000-tonne waiver.
The recent spring crop paddy production totalled 276, 260 tonnes,
and 179,569 of rice from 64,205 hectares of land. These figures
fell a little short of their projection of 289,852 paddy production
and 68,550 hectares of land that was expected to be harvested.
If the decline of the bauxite industry is to be measured by production
figures, then available figures show that the industry has not
collapsed, even though there have been major problems at the Linden
Mining Enterprise (LINMINE). However, bauxite production in the
Berbice area was very stable. There have been problems which are
largely associated with the high cost of production and meeting
overseas markets which has been affected with the April power
failure.
From 1995 to 2001 production was consistent at over 2 million
tonnes. The lowest production figure was in 2002 at 1,639,266
tons. It must be noted that during this period the Australian
firm MINPROC was providing management assistance to the mining
operations at Linden.
Meanwhile, despite several challenges, Government continues to
direct attention to the bauxite industry. The recent take-over
by CAMBIOR of the management of the Linden Mining Enterprise (LINMINE)
seeks to improve production and marketing of bauxite.
At the moment, there are two mines in operation at Kwakwani where
most of the ore is located. The Aroiama Mining Company is operating
the 20 Green Creek Mine, while Bermine is operating at Block 5,
where over 75 feet of overburden has already been stripped. The
mine operators are expecting to extract some 120,000 tonnes of
metal grade bauxite at this mine. They are anticipating that 280,000
will be mined from Block 5 this year.
At the 20 Green Creek mine, it is anticipated that 500,000 tons
of both chemical and metal grade bauxite will be mined from this
site. Up to the end of May 2003, overall bauxite production amounted
to 788, 810 tons, surpassing the target of 733,098.
ALCOA continues to purchase Guyana's bauxite, and just recently
Government concluded negotiations with the company for ABC's production
and supply of approximately 1.5 million tonnes of metallurgical
bauxite over the next three years.
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Friday
August 22, 2003