With Guyana rice farmers seeking to export majority of their produce, the country is fighting a serious rice shortage in its domestic market with domestic rice prices getting almost doubled in the last couple of months.

The strong demand for export of Guyanese rice is driven by a global grain shortage due to a shift toward corn production to meet ethanol demands.

Guyana is one of the largest producers of rice in the Caribbean, exporting 269,000 MT last year, a third of it to Jamaica and most of the remainder to the European Union. Local consumption accounts for another 43,000 MT.