The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is in active discussion with Mexican rice purchasing agents, through a teleconference facilitated by the Mexican Ambassador Ivan Robero Sierra Medel.The discussions began on Saturday at the Mexican Embassy.Prior to the teleconference, from left: President of the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association, Dr. Peter De Groot, Head, (Ag) Guyana Rice Development Board, Nizam Hassan,Wholesale NFL Jerseys Authentic, Member of the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association, Rajendra Persaud,Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic, President of the Rice Producers’ Association, Lekha Rambrich and Mexican Ambassador Ivan Robero Sierra Medel.When contacted, GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan would only divulge that discussions were held with the Mexican Rice Council, a private sector body and the Diconasa, a public sector agency.It is understood that private exporters have commitments to export 220,000 tonnes over the next few months.Hassan has reported that to date, there has been a six percent increase in rice exports for 2015 in comparison to the same time period last year.Statistics for 2015 show 437,448 tonnes of rice being exported in comparison to 412,220 tonnes for the same period last year. And with just two months remaining in 2015, this has raised the confidence of rice officials that it will be a successful year for the industry.This is despite a difficult period for the industry,Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China, which has been rocked by protests from farmers who have suffered heavy financial losses; farmers whose production costs per bag of paddy have been more than the prices they have been selling for.Famers have also been protesting the loss of the Venezuelan market, which bought Guyana’s rice at preferential prices.While the world market price for rice averaged at US$390 per tonne, Venezuela was buying white rice from Guyana for approximately US$780 per tonne.Currently, Guyana averages between US$335 to US$400 per tonne in its sale of white rice while parboiled rice sells for as much as US$600 per tonne.Venezuela has already told the Government of Guyana that it will not renew the rice-for-oil pact it had, beyond this month. Guyana had been taking oil under the PetroCaribe arrangement and paying with rice and paddy, for years. That pronouncement had left the new Government scrambling to find new markets.In addition, Venezuela has already formed new rice purchasing agreements with other countries including Suriname, whose silos were full.As of November 6, paddy production stood at 1,017, 741 metric tonnes,NFL Jerseys China Online, which is equivalent to 661,532 metric tonnes of rice. This is compared with paddy production for 2014 being 977, 289 metric tonnes, and the rice equivalent was 635,nfl jerseys china, 238 metric tonnes.Rice production for 2013 exceeded the 422,057 tonnes produced in 2012, thereby showing an increase of 25.43 percent. The 2012 rice production grew by five percent over the 2011 output.It had long been predicted that rice production for 2015 would exceed previous years, as the industry’s production was on an upward trend versus the other major crop produced by Guyana – sugar.However, with Guyana’s rice yield steadily growing,Wholesale Jerseys, the problem of finding new markets for the extra rice has consistently been at the forefront.