quote:Originally posted by caribj:
My question is, aside from gold, how many of these exports are at record levels? If you control for increased commodity prices, which are beyond the control of Guyanese producers, are these sectors more valuable than say 5 years ago?
Record levels my arse.......
In the first half of 2011, the sugar industry showed tentative signs that the path to recovery
has commenced. The sector returned a 2011 first crop of 106,871 tonnes, reflecting a 30.5 percent
increase over the first crop of 2010 and the best first crop performance since 2004. In a conscious
strategy to realise the targets set for 2011, but beset by wet weather, lingering industrial relations
challenges, and interruptions to harvesting, management decided to redeploy labour resources from
non-harvesting estates to support harvesting activities in those estates that were still in operation.
This yielded favourable returns. The industry continues to emphasise that if workers maximise the
opportunity days available for harvesting for the second crop, the annual target of 298,879 tonnes is
achievable. Recent agreements concluded with the industry’s labour unions on wages and salaries for
2011 are likely to be helpful in this regard. The sector’s projected growth for the full year therefore
remains unrevised at 35.3 percent.
3.4 The rice industry continued its successes of recent years into the first half of 2011. Coming
off a remarkable production performance in 2010, the 2011 first crop rice production at 207,514
tonnes was 23.3 percent higher than the corresponding period in 2010 and the highest first crop in
the industry’s history. This growth in production was attributed mainly to significantly improved
drainage and irrigation as a result of government investments, the development of a new and more
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tolerant rice strain by the Guyana Rice Development Board, higher yields and, most importantly, a
higher acreage of paddy planted. The presence of favourable international prices served as a
significant catalyst for increased paddy acreages by farmers, although timely payment by millers to
farmers remains an industry concern. The industry at this point in time foresees no impediment to
its attaining the second crop target which, when taken together with the stronger first crop
production, results in an upward revision of projected growth in the industry from 4.9 percent to 12
percent.
3.5 Guyana can consider itself fortunate that, in an era of resurgent growth in food prices
globally and in the Caricom region in particular, local food production and supplies continued to be
effectively secured even in the face of adverse weather conditions. The other crops sector continues
to benefit from Government’s Agricultural Diversification Programme and the Grow More Food
Campaign and at the end of the first half the industry recorded a 3 percent growth rate. Weather
conditions are expected to be more favourable after July, which would augur well for production,
and there is no revision to the projection of 2 percent growth.
3.6 Production in the livestock industry was targeted to remain stable through 2011. However,
for the first half of the year overall production levels actually increased by 2.7 percent, with
increased production evident in areas of poultry meat, table eggs, mutton and beef while pork
production declined. As a result there is a now a higher expectation of the eventual annual output
and the original growth projections have been revised upwards to 0.6 percent.
3.7 At Budget the fisheries industry was targeted to grow just marginally by 0.4 percent over the
production performance of 2010. However, during the first half of the year, the industry recorded a
downward trend, with negative growth of 2.2 percent. A contributory factor in the reduced
production was higher prices for fuel, a critical input in the industry. The industry is now projected
to contract by 4.7 percent in the full year.
3.8 In the forestry sector, during the first half of 2011, production of logs, lumber and
roundwood all contracted, resulting in an overall negative growth in the industry of 30.3 percent.
Notwithstanding the resumed production of plywood manufacturing operations, sustained
international demand for several of Guyana’s traditional species now boosted by the penetration of
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Guyana’s lesser used species into the international market, and attendant improvement in
international market prices, the sector is now projected to contract by 19.9 percent by year end
compared to an earlier projected contraction of 1.4 percent.
3.9 In the mining and quarrying sector, production of bauxite reached a total of 815,505 tonnes
at the half year, an increase of 38.6 percent compared to the same period in 2010. While both
companies have posted higher production, the increases came largely from the two lower valued
products. The composition of the industry’s output, a higher proportion of lower grade to higher
grade product, converts into a sub-sector growth of 13.8 percent. With this production mix expected
to continue during the second half, the expected growth rate for value added in the bauxite industry
is now projected at 13.4 percent.