Miller Magazine Issue: 124 April 2020

Venezuela 90 MILLER / APRIL 2020 In September 2019, Russia signed an agreement with the Maduro administration to supply 600,000 metric tons of wheat to Venezuela over the next year. The media reported that this agreement was an increase over the 254,000 tons supplied in 2018. As of March 2020, only 99,000 tons of Russian wheat had arrived at the port in Venezuela since the agreement was signed. Contacts indicate that private millers have rejected the opportunity to pur- chase Russian wheat from the Maduro government due to concerns with quality. DROP IN RICE PRODUCTION Post forecasts harvested rice area in MY 2020/21 to drop to 55,000 hectares on resource limitations. With the decreased area, FAS Caracas estimates that production will reach only 105 MT. A severe lack of fuel, seeds, fertilizers, and access to credit is limiting the amount of land that farm- ers can put into rice cultivation. Marginal lands are being excluded from grain production, some of which will be moved to low-cost staples such as tubers and legumes. Low oil prices and resource strain from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak are expected to exacerbate the drops in production in the forecast year. In MY 2020/21, the post forecasts that consump- Wheat Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 0 0 0 Consumption 825 850 780 Imports 817 780 775 Source: USDA Corn Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) Wheat Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 0 0 0 Consumption 825 850 780 Imports 817 780 775 Source: USDA Corn Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 700 500 280 Consumption 1450 1100 800 Imports 704 600 440 Source: USDA Rice Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Wheat Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 0 0 0 Consumption 825 850 780 Imports 817 780 775 Source: USDA Corn Prod ction, Consumption and Import i Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 700 500 280 Consumption 1450 1100 800 Imports 704 600 440 Source: USDA Rice Production, Consumption and Import in Venezuela (1000 Tons) 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Production 170 115 105 Consumption 680 600 590 Imports 515 460 450 Source: USDA