COLOMBIA: Country Begins White Rice Exports To Canada

(RTTNews) - Colombia made its first export of white rice to Canada after four years of joint work between public and private sectors to open that market.

"This export of rice is in line with our policy of diversification of the exportable supply, but also shows the deepening of our Trade Agreement with Canada, where the income of this product is tax-free," said the Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Mar?a Lorena Gutierrez.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, said that "this is the first market, because we are doing a job to open other international destinations such as Ecuador, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Chile, although we already have eligibility with Canada and Venezuela."

In 2017, Canada imported 389,797 tons of rice and its main supplier was the United States with 227,765 tons, followed by Thailand with 90,001 tons.