Glenford Millin, Trade Writer
Guyana has complained that selected countries of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) 15-member bloc are not supplying timely and accurate data on their rice imports while sidestepping application for the 25 per cent common external tariff (CET) on imported rice.
As a consequence, the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has requested Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to account for their non-submission of data on their individual rice imports.
Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, St. Lucia, Jamaica and Suriname have submitted the required data.
Chairman of the Caribbean Rice Association (CRA), Beni Sankar, has declared that "The CARICOM system is just not working" in a CMC article published April 5 in The Financial Gleaner.
The answer to why there is so much concern on the non-submission of rice data can be found by referring to Jamaica's rice imports between the period of 2002 and 2004 and evaluating the value and share of Guyana's exports.
In general, many of CARICOM's member countries are dependent on food imports, Jamaica being a good example.
Jamaica's food imports amounted to US$519.9 million in 2004, a 6.4 per cent increase over the 2003 import level; while in 2005, imports increased further by 16 per cent to US$602.9 million.
The import value for the first eight calendar months of 2006 was US$404.3 million.
Jamaica's food dependency is a function of several factors including unavailability of planting materials, inadequate research and low productivity, minimal agro-processing, significant and unsatisfied food demand in the tourism sector and the impact of periodic adverse weather conditions on some food crops, as well as, the taste for products that the country does not or no longer produces - such as rice.
The primary suppliers of food products to Jamaica are:
The United States - US$234.53 million or 45.11 per cent of total imports in 2004;
Canada 6.2 per cent
Trinidad and Tobago 4.7 per cent
Brazil 2.2 per cent
Colombia 2.2 per cent
United Kingdom 2.1 per cent; and
Mexico 1.3 per cent.
This is the macro view of food imports but when one reviews the food imports of a sub-sector such as cereal and cereal preparations, interesting findings are revealed.
An important one is that Guyana rules in Jamaica's rice imports (see graphic).
Significant cereal imports in the Jamaican economy include wheat, corn and corn seed for the manufacture of animal feed and broken and wholly milled rice products.
American exporters face virtually no competition in the supply of wheat and corn. However, in the rice trade, Guyana and the U.S. are the leading suppliers, followed by Suriname and Thailand.
Guyana dominates the Jamaican market in white and parboiled rice with an average product market share of over 85 per cent, and in general, supplies more than 50 per cent of Jamaica's total rice imports.
Jamaica's imports of rice products are influenced primarily by the size of the population and the cultural eating habit of consuming rice and peas with chicken, the proliferation of food operations, a well-established and growing hospitality sector and the demand by segments of the population for specialty rice.
Jagnarine Singh, general manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board, in the April 5 article, suggested that if the completed rice reports show breaches, local farmers and millers who suffer heavy financial losses would be encouraged to seek legal redress at the level of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
I would like to suggest to the Guyanese that before heading for the CCJ, it would be worthwhile to study the market for non-bulk - A-Grade and specialty rice demanded by restaurants, hotels and middle and upper income households throughout the Caribbean, and consider expanding their products and marketing into those segments of the market.
Given the fact that it is unlikely that Jamaica will rethink its venture in rice production in areas like Goshen, St. Elizabeth and selected areas of Westmoreland, and, influenced by the above-mentioned factors, the market for rice imports from Guyana is secure - with or without the timely submission of import data - and should continue to increase despite the sluggish growth in the economy.
So, is CARICOM working? In terms of Jamaican rice imports and a wide range of other products, the answer is yes.
ggmillin@yahoo.com
Source: The Statistical Institute of Jamaica and Jamaica Imports, 2007 Edition: Goods You Can Sell To The Jamaican Market.
