Chairman of the Caribbean Rice Association (CRA) Beni Sankar is still hopeful that the safeguard mechanism to protect Caribbean producers could be ratified at the current meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
The mechanism would increase the Common External Tariff on imports from outside the region depending on the price of rice on the world market. Prices have been extremely low in recent years and imports from outside the region can compete with supplies from the region's two producers, Suriname and Guyana.
Prior to the opening of the Fourteenth Meeting of COTED Sankar told Stabroek News that the CRA was hoping that the safeguard mechanism that was being negotiated over the past two years, would have been ratified on Thursday by the working group but no definite decision was taken and the discussions would now be taken up at the ministerial level today. He feels that the industry in the Caribbean can supply all the region's needs.
He noted that the talks "are getting a bit out of hand, right now" but did not elaborate although he said "we had four meetings all over the place. We came to a final point and now some are saying they don't agree."
The working group which crafted the proposed safeguard mechanism has been meeting over the past two years under the chairmanship of CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Byron Blake. Stabroek News understands that the governments of St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica feel that the imposition of a safeguard mechanism was a political and not a technical one.
Asked if he knew the reason why Jamaica was importing paddy duty- free from the United States, Sankar said he did not know. However, he said "we can sell paddy out of Guyana and Suriname. And we are bringing down the cost of paddy all the time and we are using the money provided for the industry very beneficially."
Stabroek News understands that the CRA is also concerned about the licence the Jamaican government has issued to one of the largest traders of grain in the world, the US company Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) to mill paddy imported from the US duty-free. ADM is to start milling soon and this would threaten Guyana's access to the Jamaican market. Jamaica's Undersecretary with responsibility for trade in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gail Mathurin told Stabroek News yesterday that the Minister of Foreign Affairs KD Knight was to arrive in the country last evening and until then the delegation had nothing to say on the matter.
Sankar said the local industry had been working and was continuing to work on lowering the cost of rice production. He said he had just received a report in which it was stated that some 23 million Euros for the region's rice industry had almost been agreed as part of the post-Cotonou agreement.