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Individual trades through land border exceed K43 bln in FY2019-2020

Trade conducted by Individual Trading Card (ITC) holders touched a low of K43 billion through the land border in the last financial year 2019-2020, according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The trade value plunged from K59 billion registered in the FY2018-2019 as both export and import sharply fell in the last FY2019-2020. The Trade Department issued 88 cards in the October-September period of the FY2019-2020, and the cardholders conducted trade worth K43 billion. While imports exceeded K40 billion, exports were valued at just K3.25 billion.
The Myawady border recorded the highest trade value at K28 billion in the last FY, according to the Commerce Ministry. But, the figure only reflected imports as individual trading cardholders did not export goods through the Myawady gate.

The value of trade carried out by individual cardholders stood at K450 million at Tamu, over K10.8 million at Muse, K188 million at Tachilek, K39.4 million at Lwejel, K488 million at Kampaiti, over K2 billion at Kawthoung, K680.9 million at Reed, K7.7 billion at Mawtaung, K3.4 billion at Hteekhee, and K183 million at Kengtung, as per data from the Commerce Ministry. Individual trades topped K737 million in the period from 21 November 2012 to 31 March 2013; exceeded K6.6 billion in the FY2013-2014; reached K9.37 billion in the FY2014-2015; stood at over K6.4 billion in the FY2015-2016; rose above K18.5 billion in the FY2016-2017; touched K45.9 billion in the FY2017-2018; K22.5 billion during the 2018 mini-budget period (April-September); and K59 billion in the FY2018-2019.

Trading with the use of ITC is based on local currency. Hundreds of exports and imports items have been allowed for individual trading at the border checkpoints. The trade department has issued 1,775 cards so far intending to boost trade. People in business can trade goods worth K3 million per day using ITCs, and the Trade Department has permitted trade of up to K15 million per day over five days.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Trade documentation, payments in Myanmar to be completed online

Myanmar will launch an online portal that will enable all paperwork and payments to be done digitally to facilitate trade in November. Administrative procedures such as applications and payments for export and import permits can be done online on the Myanmar Tradenet 2.0 portal, while the documents can also be issued digitally. These procedures had all beem done manually at the Department of Trade in the past.

Foreign countries are already using TradeNet 4.0. In Myanmar, they are just moving to Tradenet 2.0. They have to keep pace with their trading partners and this is also very helpful in reducing physical contact during the COVID-29 period. Myanmar can expect trade to raise once the online system is in place. In Tradenet 2.0 they have amended some of the existing policies in applying for and renewing export/import licenses. By going online, trades will no longer need to submit recommendations from the various departments, including the Department of Agriculture, Livestock Breeding & Veterinary Department and Food and Drug Administration, to the Department of Trade.

As all the documents can be accessed on the system, traders will not need to visit all the departments to obtain the required documentation for the process. All traders should update their details online before October 25. After that deadline, accounts with incomplete data will be removed from the system. The ministry will strive to launch Tradenet 2.0 in time despite the lack of staff working in the office during COVID-19.

Source: Myanmar Times

COVID-19 AND FOOD MARKET DISRUPTIONS IN MYANMAR

Date: 15 October 2020 (Thursday) , 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Please register at :  https://register.gotowebinar.com/regist…/5527017764042744336

Organizer: Michigan State University International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

ကိုဗစ်နိုင်တင်း ကူးစက်မှုတွေ မြင့်တက်မှုကြောင့် ရောဂါပြန့်ပွားမှုကို ထိန်းချုပ်လုပ်ဆောင်နေရတာနဲ့အမျှ အစားအစာဈေးကွက်ကို ထိခိုက်လာပါတယ်။ ဒီအကြောင်းအရာနဲ့ ပတ်သက်တဲ့ အွန်လိုင်းဆွေးနွေးပွဲလေးကို မီရှီဂန်ပြည်နယ်တက္ကသိုလ်နဲ့ IFPRI တို့ပူးပေါင်းပြီး အောက်တိုဘာလ ၁၅ရက်နေ့မှာ ကျင်းပမှာ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံက လက်ရှိ အစားအစာ ဈေးကွက် လည်ပတ်နေတဲ့အပေါ်မှာ လေ့လာသုံးသပ်ထားတဲ့ အချက်တွေအပေါ်မှာ ဆွေးနွေးပေးမှာ ဖြစ်လို့ စိတ်ဝင်စားသူတွေအနေနဲ့ စာရင်းသွင်း တက်ရောက်နိုင်ဖို့ မျှဝေပေးလိုက်ပါတယ်ရှင်။

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FDI tops $25 bln in incumbent government period

Myanmar has attracted more than US$25 billion of foreign direct investments over the past four and half years under the incumbent government, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) and the respective investment committees granted permits and endorsements to 1,032 foreign enterprises between the 2016-2017FY and 2019-2020FY, with estimated capitals of US$25.186 billion.

The FDIs stood at $6.9 million from 158 enterprises in the FY2016-2017, $6.119 billion from 234 businesses in the FY2017-2018, $1.94 billion from 89 projects in the 2018 mini-budget year, $4.5 billion from 298 enterprises in the FY2018-2019 and $5.689 billion from 253 businesses in the FY2019-2020 respectively, the DICA’s data indicated. The FDIs flow into the 12 sectors; oil and gas, power, transport and communications, real estate, hotels and tourism, mining, livestock and fisheries, industrial estate, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and other service sectors.

Transport and communications sector topped the investment line-up, followed by the manufacturing industry in the second place and real estate sector in the third place. Of 51 foreign countries and regions investing in Myanmar, Singapore put the most massive investments, followed by China and Hong Kong (SAR). MIC is prioritizing the labor-intensive businesses. In the incumbent government period, domestic and foreign projects employ over 670,000 residents, according to the DICA. Those enterprises have created over 96,000 jobs in the FY2016-2017, 110,000 jobs in the FY2017-2018, over 53,000 jobs in the 2018 mini-budget period, over 180,000 jobs in the FY2018-2019 and 210,000 jobs in the FY2019-2020 respectively. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Construction work to resume in Yangon with new rules

Construction work in Yangon, which has been halted since the third week of September, will be allowed to resume if it follows new rules, said the Yangon Region Construction Inspection Committee. “Construction projects in Yangon Region will have to report to the committee and after inspection, they will be allowed to resume if they are in compliance with the rules,” said committee Associate Secretary U Myo Myint.

The construction sites must follow 18 rules and Version 3.0 or 4.0 of Virus Prevention Instructions issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports. If the companies want inspections or have any trouble, they can contact the committee. Construction work necessary for infrastructure development is still a priority during COVID-19 and should be allowed if it complies with healthcare regulations said State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on October 9.

“While controlling the disease, we have to avoid an economic impact. Considerations include allowing factories to reopen. If construction work follows health rules, it can develop infrastructure in the long run and create jobs,” she said. Ten percent of construction work will be allowed after inspection by the Yangon government, the National COVID-19 Committee said on October 4. An October 10 announcement said work that meets regulations can resume with the region’s permission starting October 12.

Source: Myanmar Times

Rice price slightly rises in September

The prices of rice in export and domestic markets slightly increased in September amid the coronavirus crisis, as per data of Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF). Following the coronavirus resurgence in Myanmar, rice was highly demanded in the domestic market. The domestic retail market in September saw a rise of K1,000-1,500 per 108-pound bag compared to August’s prices, said traders from Bayintnaung market. The prices of rice last month for Pawsan varieties moved in the ranges of K38,000-50,000 per 108-pound-bag in the domestic market, while low-quality rice fetched K22,000-26,500, MRF data showed. When the volume of old rice stock has become smaller, the surging coronavirus cases in September prompted the people to make bulk-buying, making the price up by around K1,000-3,000 per bag compared with the previous month.

The residents prefer old rice to the newly harvested crop. The fresh rice will enter the market soon, so the price of new rice is likely to slide. But, the cost of old rice is expected to remain strong. There is self-sufficiency in the domestic market, and people do not need to concern over the shortage of rice. A total of 100,100 bags (108 pounds per bag) from reserved rice have been sold between 10 July and 3 October 2020, and about 701,689 bags are left to sell, MRF stated. In September, the export prices of white rice (low quality) and parboiled rice range US$385 to 500 per metric tonne depending on quality, indicating a slight increase compared with the previous months. The foreign market purchases our rice as the price is relatively lower than other Asian countries such as Thailand and Viet Nam, MRF data showed. Yet, the prices are higher than those market prices of India and Pakistan, MRF’s data showed. MRF expected to ship 2.4 million tonnes of rice, and broken rice in the Financial Year2019-2020 and the country meet the export target before the financial year-end. Between 1 October and 11 September, Myanmar sent over 413,490 metric tonnes to neighbouring countries through border trade, while over 2.117 million tonnes of rice and broken rice were shipped to foreign trade partners via maritime trade, totalling over 2.53 million tonnes.

Over the past eleven months, the value of Myanmar’s rice and broken export was estimated at US$774.89 million. A surge in rice shipping through sea trade was contributed to meeting year’s export target, MRF stated. Myanmar has shipped rice to 66 foreign markets. China is the main buyer of Myanmar rice, followed by Malaysia and Philippines. Madagascar is the fourth-largest buyer and Guinea the fifth-largest buyer of Myanmar rice. In the 2019-2020FY, Myanmar has exported broken rice mostly to Belgium, followed by China, Senegal, Indonesia and Thailand. Broken rice has been placed in 60 foreign markets. Myanmar targets to export 4 million tonnes of rice and broken rice in the current FY 2020-2021, said U Aung Than Oo. Myanmar shipped 3.6 million tonnes of rice in the FY2017-2018, which was an all-time record in rice exports. The export volume plunged to 2.3 million tonnes, in the FY2018-2019.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Manulife launches two life insurance plans to help families in Myanmar

Manulife Myanmar has launched two life insurance products designed to help families make better financial decisions and improve their financial security. Families in Myanmar can now choose Manulife Protector to safeguard their financial future and Manulife Education Life to save for a child’s education. Both plans also offer unique COVID-19 benefits. Manulife Protector is a comprehensive life insurance plan that is designed to protect the insured’s family in an unexpected and unfortunate event when the insured can no longer do so. Also, it is kind of long-term savings if the protection is not needed.

Customers can start a life insurance plan for K5,000,000 with flexible payment terms. The oldest age for life insurance is 55 years old for the 10-year plan and 45 years old for the 20-year plan. Manulife Education Life allows parents to save for their child’s future education, with insurance to take care of the child’s education needs in the unexpected and unfortunate event if they are not able to do so. It can start with a face amount of K5,000,000 and offers flexible premium payment terms, as well as the option to select Double Benefit for extra life insurance protection. Customers that purchase either plan from now until 31 December 2020 are automatically entitled to special COVID-19 benefits that cover themselves and immediate family members.

These provide a potential maximum one-time K600,000 total payouts if the life insured and/or their immediate family members (maximum four payments per family) are diagnosed with COVID-19; a further K600,000 to cover intensive care costs if the life insured is hospitalized in an ICU ward; and an extra death benefit of K6,000,000, if the life insured unfortunately passes away due to COVID-19.Manulife Protector and Manulife Education Life are now available. Customers can purchase the plans from Manulife agents. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Myanmar agricultural exports increase in 2019-2020 FY

Myanmar’s exports of farm products remarkably soared to US$3.69 billion between 1 October 2019 and 25 September 2020 in the 2019-2020 financial year from $3.2 billion in the corresponding period of the 2017-2018FY, according to the trade figures released by the Ministry of Commerce.

During the last FY2019-2020, the agro-export figures reflect an increase of $474 million against a-year ago period. Myanmar’s agricultural exports rose regardless of the impact of the coronavirus on foreign demand. In the exports sector, the agricultural industry performed the best, accounting for 22 per cent of overall exports. The chief items of export in the agricultural industry are rice and broken rice, pulses and beans and maize. Fruits and vegetables, sesame, dried tea leaves, sugar, and other agro products are also shipped to other countries.

More than 100,000 acres of monsoon paddy have been cultivated under the contract farming system this year, according to Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF). The Commerce Ministry is working to help farmers deal with challenges such as high input costs, procurement of pedigree seeds, high cultivation costs, and unpredictable weather conditions. In a bid to remedy the businesses stricken by the COVID-19, the government also provided the agricultural loan of K150,000 per acre of paddy.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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India proposes oil refinery to expand presence in Myanmar energy

India wants to build a US$6 billion oil refinery in Thanlyin, Yangon, to rival China’s investment in Myanmar’s energy sector, according to India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and India Army Chief MM Naravane during their joint visit to Myanmar this week, India media have reported. Myanmar has yet to confirm or announce the proposal. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between Myanmar and India signed during President U Win Myint’s trip to India in Februray, the two governments had agreed to advance cooperation in the sector.

The two governments are discussing possibilities to cooperate in the downstream oil and gas sector in Myanmar. The MOEE is now also negotiating terms to purchase power to purchase power from India via cross border transmission following a bilateral meeting held on September 3 between the relevant ministries and officials, including Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Mr. Saurabh Kumar. India is raising efforts to promote its presence in Myanmar energy under its Look East and Neighbors First policies even as China expands investments in the downstream sector.

Several Chinese companies have shown interest to invest in building large oil refinery projects at the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Thanintharyi Region. China-based Yunnan Indo-Pacific Group Zhongan and CNPC East China Design Institute have purposed field surveys for a large-scale oil refinery project in the SEZ which can refine 8 million tonnes of oil a year. Meanwhile, Hong Kong New Energy Investment Holdings Limited, China Huanqiun Contracting and Engineering Co., Ltd, China Petroleun Pipeline Engineering Co., Ltd and China Energy Engineering Corporation are also interesting in building an oil refinery in Myanmar and have submitted proposals to the MOEE.

Source: Myanmar Times