28 October
DELEGATIONS from the Myanmar Rice Federation will visit China, the Philippines, and African to promote Myanmar rice in the export markets, according to a press statement issued by the federation on Wednesday.
The MRF’s Management Committee and the Central Executive held a joint meeting on 22 October and discussed matters related to the basic price of paddy, the formation of regional committees of the MRF, plan for the international marketing trip, and paddy exports.
In a bid to coordinate all the stakeholders in the supply chain including producing, milling and trading sectors, the MRF stated it will form regional committees in Yangon, Ayeyawady, and Bago regions by the end of this year, and later on in Sagaing Region and Rakhine State. It formed two district-level committees last week covering Maubin, Nyaungdon, Pantanaw, Danuphyu, Mawlamyinekyun, Pyabon, Dedaye, Kyaiklat and Bogale townships in Ayeyawady Region.
At the meeting, the MRF urged rice millers and traders to buy paddy at the floor rate of K500,000 per 100 baskets, if the market price falls below the set basic price.
Traders seeking to export paddy to China and Bangladesh through the border gates must examine contracts care-fully and seek export licenses through the respective minis-tries, the MRF officials said.
The volume of rice and bro-ken rice exported over elev-en-and-a-half months since October in the previous fiscal year was estimated at over 2.29 million metric tons, worth $691 million, according to the Myanmar Rice Federation.
Myanmar currently ships rice to 65 foreign markets. China, which accounts for over 33 per cent of the total rice exports, is the main buyer of Myanmar rice, followed by the Philippines and Cameroon. Côte d'Ivoire is the fourth-largest buyer and Madagascar the fifth-largest buyer of Myanmar rice. The European Union countries ac-count for over 20.88 per cent of rice exports, while 25.4 per cent of Myanmar’s rice goes to African countries.
Myanmar exports broken rice mostly to Belgium, fol-lowed by Indonesia, the Netherlands, China, and the UK. It is placed in 41 export markets.
Earlier, border trade was relatively high compared to sea trade in terms of rice exports. During the last fiscal year, border trade accounted for just 27 per cent of the total rice export, while maritime trade constituted 72.58 per cent.
Between 1 October, 2018 and 20 September, 2019, rice ex-ports through the border gates helped the country earn an estimated $187 million, whereas maritime trade generated an income of $503.85 million, data from the Commerce Ministry showed.
Myanmar primarily ex-ports rice to China through the border gates. However, trade in agricultural products was halted on account of China clamping down on illegal trade. As a result, stocks of rice piled up at the Muse border gate in Q1 of this year, bringing down the price of rice in the export market.
Additionally, the prices of low-quality rice varieties Ngasein and Aemahta were lower compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, according to the local market.
At present, rice is being exported to China through a government-to-government (G2G) agreement and a barter system, in exchange for Chinese goods. Myanmar shipped 3.6 million tons of rice in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, an all-time record in rice exports.
GNLM (Translated by EMM)
