Traders to broker direct imports, exports between Myanmar, India

The Upper Myanmar India Association will start its own trade brokering business after the Myanmar economy returns to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose is to connect traders from Myanmar and India who want to business. Even though traders from India want to do business in Myanmar, many have no point of contact here. So if India’s traders who trade care accessories, medical products or peas come for business.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March, trade between the two countries has come to a halt and border gates at Chin State, Sagaing and Mandalay, which have been the main trading routes between northeastern India and Myanmar since 2017, have closed. Trade is conducted via maritime routes only. In fiscal 2018-19, trade totaled US$201 million. This is consisted mainly of exports worth US$177.5 million. Both countries had just opened the border checkpoint between Reekhorda town in Chin State and Zowkharthar village in Mizoram, in August 2018.

The Reekhorda-Zowkharthar post is the second trade gate between Myanmar and India. The other trading post is located at Tamu in Sagaing Region and Moreh in Manipur, India, which opened up for regulated trade in 2018. There is also an integrated check post (ICP) in Tamu- Moreh, allowing both Myanmar residents and foreigners to enter India as well as goods on vehicles. Before the pandemic, the Japan International Cooperation Agency had been upgrading a road linking Reed to Tiddim and Kalay in Chin State to improve trade. Myanmar mainly exports betel nuts, beans and pulses as well as garments and plastics to India at the border.

Source: Myanmar Times

German companies in Myanmar struggle to meet investment targets

German companies in Myanmar are scaling down further investments and expansion plans as COVID-19 continues to play out across the country as well as the rest of the world. The Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Myanmar (AHK) recently released its business outlook survey report- AHK World Business Outlook 2020 Results for Myanmar- measuring business confidence and the impact of the coronavirus on German companies in Myanmar.

The majority of German companies in Myanmar expect the economy to recover by next year at the earliest, while 46.7pc in the survey expect an economic recovery in the course of 2020. More than two thirds of the companies see the lack of business support measures as the main challenge to overcome the current economic crisis. The support measures provide a number of very interesting incentives and are certainly perceived as helpful but 75pc of the companies who responded in the survey also suggested that the measures might not be enough to overcome the crises and would hope for more support.

Total trade volumes between Myanmar and Germany surpassed US$820 million in fiscal 2018-19. This year, Myanmar exported a total of US$620 million worth of goods, mainly garments and textiles, to Germany. It imported a total of US$190 million worth of goods, mainly machinery and pharmaceutical products from Germany. Meanwhile, five other German businesses have invested US$34 million worth of investments in Myanmar to-date. The largest investment by a Germany company in Myanmar is Metro Wholesale, which has channeled approximately US$10 million in its retail operations in the country.

Source: Myanmar Times