Guyana increases rice exports, over US$201 million earned

Guyana says it has been able to expand its market share in the sale of rice overseas with the country being able to sell the product in three new countries including two in Europe.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that Guyana is now providing the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Estonia and Slovenia with rice since last year and remains optimistic that the demand for the product will heighten this year as the government intends to increase investments in the sector.

“We have increased our market to those three countries, we now have close to about 42 countries where we are exporting rice and we are looking to improve on that,” Mustapha said.

Guyana said that notwithstanding the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as well as the devastating floods in May and June, revenue from the industry was estimated at US $201 million with approximately 434,535 tons of rice being exported.