Short notes on how a sale is put together. They describe public programs and ordinary shipping practice. They are not a quotation, and they are not a statement by any agency.
How GSM-102 works for an importer
GSM-102 is the Export Credit Guarantee Program of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The Foreign Agricultural Service administers it. For an importer, the usual path is this.
A buyer is identified. The buyer’s bank, which must be on the CCC-approved foreign bank list, issues an irrevocable letter of credit. The U.S. exporter applies for a GSM-102 guarantee. The guarantee is provided by the Commodity Credit Corporation and covers most of the principal owed to the U.S. lender against the foreign bank’s default. That can enable credit terms of up to 18 months. The term for a given sale is the term the Corporation sets. Payment flows through the letter of credit upon shipment documents.
We structure transactions in accordance with those program requirements. Our exporter qualification application is pending. We do not issue the guarantee. The program text is the regulation and the announcements, not this note.
What the September FAS release means for importers
On 10 September 2026 the Foreign Agricultural Service published “USDA Announces Expanded Suite of Trade, Development and Food Security Opportunities for Venezuela”. The release says FAS is promoting sales of U.S. farm products to Venezuelan importers through GSM-102. It also says that recent enhancements under the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission Initiative allow any approved foreign bank to back Venezuelan transactions, in the context of recovery from recent earthquakes.
For an importer, that is a public description of tools the agency is pointing to: a GSM-102 letter-of-credit structure, and a wider set of banks that may back a Venezuelan transaction if they are approved. For our sales, a transaction still proceeds only through a bank on the CCC-approved list, and only if the destination is one the Commodity Credit Corporation has announced.
Citing the release is a reference to a public source. It is not an endorsement and it is not a partnership. Our exporter qualification application is pending. If that application is granted, we would structure sales of wheat, corn, rice, vegetable oils, frozen poultry, dairy, and the other categories on the commodities page.
Transit from U.S. Gulf ports toward the Caribbean basin
Venezuela sits on the Caribbean basin. A shipment loaded at a U.S. Gulf port, or a Florida port, has a shorter sea distance to that coast than a shipment loaded in Asia. A shorter transit can reduce freight time and landed cost.
This note does not state a number of days. The time and the cost for a voyage depend on the ports, the carrier, and the contract. The carrier’s schedule is the source for a particular sailing. We do not publish a transit table, and we do not make a statement about duties or taxes.