Fuel oil prices sank following MOPS prices

The price of Octane 92 slipped to K1,830 per litre tracking the plunge in the price index set by Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), according to the fuel oil market. The prices of fuel oil have gradually decreased since the end of November. On 1 December, the prices stood at K1,965 per litre for Octane 92, K2,040 for Octane 95, K2,380 for diesel and K2,455 for premium diesel. On 9 December, the prices extended their decline to K1,830 per litre for Octane 92, K1,925 for Octane 95, K2,125 for diesel and K2,200 for premium diesel. The figures indicated a drop of K110-255 per litre within ten days.

The domestic fuel prices are following the decline in the price index set by Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing basis for many refined products in Southeast Asia, according to the Supervisory Committee on Oil Import, Storage and Distribution of Fuel Oil. Following the MOPS price index, the prices peaked at K2,605 per litre for Octane 92, K2,670 for Octane 95, K3,245 for diesel and K3,330 for premium diesel in late August. The committee is steering the oil sector effectively not to have a shortage of oil in the domestic market and ensure price stability for energy consumers. The committee is issuing the daily reference rate for oil to offer a reasonable price to energy consumers.

The reference rate is set on the MOPS’ price assessment, shipping cost, profit margin, premium insurance and other general costs. The rates for regions and states other than Yangon are evaluated after adding the transportation cost and the retail reference rates daily cover on the state-run newspapers and are posted on the media and official website and Facebook page of the department on a daily basis starting from 4 May. The committee is inspecting the fuel stations whether they are overcharging or not. The authorities are taking action against those retailers of fuel stations under the Petroleum and Petroleum Products Law 2017 if they are found overcharging rather than the set reference rate.

As per the statement, 90 per cent of fuel oil in Myanmar is imported, while the remaining 10 per cent is produced locally. The domestic fuel price is highly correlated with international prices. The State is steering the market to mitigate the loss between the importers, sellers and energy consumers. Consequently, the government is trying to distribute the oil at a reasonable price compared to those of regional countries. Some countries levied higher tax rates and hiked oil prices than Myanmar. However, Malaysia’s oil sector receives government subsidies and the prices are about 60 per cent cheaper than that of Myanmar. Every country lays down different patterns of policy to fix the oil prices. Myanmar also levies only a lower tax rate on fuel oil and strives for energy consumers to buy the oil at a cheaper rate.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar  

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Myanmar ships 5,260 tonnes of rice directly from Pathein Port to Bangladesh in 2nd batch

According to the Government-to-Government pact between Myanmar and Bangladesh, Bangladesh has been purchasing Myanmar’s white rice. The country has shipped rice directly from Pathein Industrial City since 2 November 2022. Between 1 and 8 December, 5,260 tonnes of rice were loaded onto the two ships in the second batch and the MCL-12 ship carrying 2,650 tonnes of rice departed in the morning of 8 December 2022 from the Ayeyawady International Industrial Port AIIP in Pathein Industrial City, Ayeyawady Region to Bangladesh.

Earlier, Myanmar conveyed rice to Bangladesh through Yangon Port and Thilawa terminals. In the first batch from 2 to 22 November 2022, 10,565 tonnes of Aemahta rice (five-per-cent broken) were shipped by four ships directly from Pathein city to Bangladesh. The country delivered 2,610 tonnes of rice by MCL-19 ship on 1 December and 2,650 tonnes of rice by the MCL-12 ship on 8 December in the second batch, totalling 5,260 tonnes. On 7 December, the MCL-18 ship arrived at the   Ayeyawady International Industrial Port and further exports are to be undertaken.

Myanmar’s white rice direct delivery from Ayeyawady Region to Bangladesh accumulated 15,825 tonnes, with 10,565 tonnes in the first batch and 5,260 in the second batch. “The main export item from Pathein Port is rice. If Bangladesh buys corn in addition to rice, there is an adequate supply of corn in the region. Myanmar has indicated readiness to export corn depending on the market demand. The rice shipment for the second batch has finished. We plan to export agricultural products from Ayeyawady Region to foreign trading partners. For the initial stage, efforts are being made to complete the rice shipment first,” said U Tun Tun, deputy director of the Ayeyawady Region Consumers Affairs Department.

Earlier, the second batch of rice shipment was slated for the second week of December. However, Myanmar managed to ship the rice in the first week to Bangladesh as rice outputs from Ayeyawady Region increased.  All the stakeholders involved in a supply chain including the Ayeyawady Region Government, departments concerned and private businessmen are being exerted to meet the rice demand of Bangladesh to ship them directly from the region. The direct rice shipment from Ayeyawady Region, Myanmar’s rice bowl, to the foreign markets brings about economic opportunities for rice millers, farmers and traders and employment opportunities for local communities.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Real estate agents need registration certificates to run businesses

The Ministry of Home Affairs released a statement saying that property brokers need to have real estate registration certificates to run their businesses. The Central Committee for Anti-Money Laundering issued Notification 1/2022 for real estate agents on 9 November. The statement said that, aiming to prevent money laundering cases in Nay Pyi Taw, regions and states and self-administered regions, if the agents want to run services of renting and buying properties, they need to register and inform the money laundering cases to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

Those who run the property agencies are required to register from the township level and they need to get the document as proof of their attendance to the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing training course. They can make registration with the pledge that they will attend the advancing awareness training on bylaws, laws, orders and directives, copies of their bank account and bank statement, it stated. Moreover, they must record the data of their customers and pay tax under the existing tax law and bylaw.

They must be ready to send their service records if the Financial Intelligence Unit and other relevant organizations ask them for criminal cases. Regarding the remittance, they also need to follow the payment methods set by the authorities. If it fails, it must report to the Financial Intelligence Unit, it added. If they are suspected of breaking the Anti-Money Laundering Law, Counter-Terrorism Law and existing laws, their business will be suspended and reported to the FIU. If they fail to follow the directives, they will face legal action under the existing law, it said. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

FILE PHOTO - Bottles of medications line the shelves at a pharmacy in Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S. on June 21, 2017. To match Special Report USA-HEALTHCARE/OPIOIDS REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo

Over 500 tonnes of pharmaceuticals worth US$10.5 mln imported by sea

Myanmar has imported over 500 tonnes of pharmaceutical products worth US$ 10.5 million via maritime trade, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The products were reportedly imported from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, Cyprus, Ecuador, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, the Philippines, Singapore, Portugal, Thailand, the US and Viet Nam during the period from 19 to 25 November.

About 120 tonnes of pharmaceutical products worth $ 1.371 million were imported from the border trade. More than 100 tonnes were imported from Thailand and over 15 tonnes from the People’s Republic of China, it is learnt.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Reading electricity meters on mobile phone available in 5 townships of Yangon

Electricity meters can be read on mobile phones in five townships of the Yangon Region, according to Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation (YESC). During this FY, the government completes digital meter installation processes using an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system in five townships of Yangon and people can read the meter on their phones, YESC stated.

The AMI system will reduce power losses significantly and people can know their used meter units over their mobile phones using the Me Bill application in a timely manner. Officials installed AMI system-based 66,189 digital meters in Lanmadaw, Latha, Kyauktada, Pazundaung and Botahtaung townships and it is now 98.66 per cent completed.

Officials will change the remaining 900 meter boxes. In the past, it allowed only one service wire for each apartment and it caused complex cables on lamp posts. Now, power poles look neat and tidy for using only one larger service wire. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Myawady border trade totals $1.456 billion in about eight months

The value of border trade via the Myawady border post between 1 April and 25 November hit US$1.456 billion, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce. The figures showed a drastic drop of $148.545 million recorded in the corresponding period last year. The trade policy changes and political instability in the border areas resulted in an extreme fall in export to Thailand. The border trade between Myanmar and Thailand through Myawady, Tachilek, Kawthoung, Myeik, Hteekhee, Mawtaung and Meisei amounted to $3.452 billion, which is an increase of $451.342 million from the year-ago period.

Myanmar sent agricultural products (chilli pepper, onion, rice powder, turmeric, dried lily buds, coffee bean, green gram, rubber, cinnamon, macadamia nuts in shell, plum from Bago and peanuts), fishery products (anchovy, clam, hilsa, crab, shrimp and other fish) and finished industrial goods on a Cutting-Making and Packaging basis (men’s sweaters, women’s shirts and other clothes) on 27 and 28 November through Myawady border trade zone to Thailand.  Onions, rice powder, chilli pepper, coffee beans, peanut, rubber, green gram and fishery products are the main export items to Thailand.

Thailand’s demand for Myanmar’s kitchen groceries has risen as it resumed the tourism businesses in the post-COVID period and the restaurants and food businesses widely used them. Fishery products are directly sent to Bangkok, Thailand, through Mae Sot. The fast and fresh delivery service is the priority. About 33-34 trucks are leaving for Thailand. The authorities are inspecting the goods onboard with the lists in the declaration form. The cloth rolls, construction materials, industrial raw materials, pharmaceuticals, motorcycle parts, footwear, clothes, fruits, food products, cosmetics, gas, lubricants, household goods, foodstuff, bicycles, stationery, auto parts, tiles, feedstuff, fertilizer and electronic devices are imported with 161 trucks. A batch was exchanged for K67 in early November and K79 at the end of November. The exchange rate fluctuation influenced the import volume.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Passport Online Booking System suspended on 5 December

The Myanmar Passport Office announced the suspension of applications for the passport through an online booking system on 4 December and advised against purchasing QR Codes through brokers at expensive prices.

The Myanmar Passport Office introduced the online booking system on 21 March 2022 and, according to the new system, the applicants must make an online appointment on www.passport.gov.mm by entering details such as the applicant’s name, father’s name, date of birth and gender and, only after they have received the QR code, they can come to the office in person.

Those who have received the appointment will have to bring the printout of the passport online appointment letter or the screenshot of the QR code. Now, some changes are being made to the online booking system to enable the applicants to make an appointment round the clock. Therefore, the current system was suspended on 5 December. However, those who have already had an appointment through the old system can come to the office on the appointed day. The date when the new online booking system can be used will be announced again, it is learnt.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Price gaps still widen in paddy, edible oil, gold, currency markets

Just business entities in the fuel oil sector comply with the reference price set by the institution concerned, so the fuel consumers are delighted with that. Furthermore, those engaged in the forex market and in the gold market are found to have weak compliance at the reference prices. The consumers are bearing the burden of those extra costs. The reference price was set for fuel oil and edible oil depending on the market price and foreign exchange rate. “I could buy the fuel oil according to the daily wholesale and retail reference prices,” Ko Than Win, a taxi driver, told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).

The fuel oil wholesale reference prices stood at K1,867 per litre of Octane 92, K1,941 for Octane 95 and K2,291 for diesel. The retail prices were K1,965 per litre of Octane 92, K2,041 for Octane 95 and K2,410 for diesel. Those reference prices were effective on 2-4 December and the fuel buyers were able to reach them. Next, the wholesale reference price of edible oil for the Yangon market is released on a weekly basis on Mondays depending on the foreign palm oil market conditions. However, the consumers find it hard to buy them at the reference prices, said a trader.

Every month, approximately 30,000 tonnes of edible oil are imported from the foreign markets and mobile market trucks offer them at the retail reference price. Nonetheless, the sales quota volume is extremely low. That being so, there is a gap of thousand Kyats between the reference price and the market price. In August 2022, there was a price difference of K4,000 per viss. On 3 December, it narrowed to K1,200 per viss of palm oil, according to the Yangon edible oil market. Likewise, the institutions concerned set the reference prices for exchange rate and daily gold price. Weak culture of compliance by traders in those industries resulted in exorbitant market prices compared to the reference prices.

Moreover, the floor price for 2022 monsoon paddy (low-grade) and 2023 summer paddy (low-grade) was set at K630,000 per 100 baskets (46 pounds per basket), according to the leading committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Interests of Farmers. Actually, the market price hit K1 million to K1.3 million per 100 baskets (50 pounds per basket), said a rice dealer from Wakema Township.

The committee set the floor price for paddy at K540,000 per 100 baskets for 2021 monsoon paddy and 2022 summer paddy. They were sold at K600,000 per 100 baskets. Unlike reference price, the traders are notified of purchasing the paddy at floor price if the market price falls below that. The farmers received higher prices than the floor price in the past two years. Next, the importers and the traders who keep the stocks in hands of the certain goods earn a great profit amid the weak compliance. A buyer called for enforcement for the regulatory compliance so that they can enjoy the reference prices of those certain commodities and goods.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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Myanmar ships approximately 110,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh under G-to-G pact

Myanmar has conveyed about 110,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh under the government-to-government pact, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on rice trade in September this year. According to this MoU, Bangladesh has agreed to buy 250,000 tonnes of white rice and 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from Myanmar between 2022 and 2027.

Under the MoU, Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food and Myanmar Rice Federation signed a sales contract for 200,000 tonnes of Myanmar’s white rice to be exported to Bangladesh. As per the sales contract, Myanmar has shipped about 110,000 tonnes of white rice to Bangladesh as of 28 November 2022. Furthermore, over 2,000 tonnes of rice are being loaded onto the ship for now. The remaining will be delivered before the deadline.

As per the MoU between Myanmar and Bangladesh on the rice trade, 48 companies, under the supervision of the Myanmar Rice Federation, are to export 200,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh with Chinese yuan payment between October 2022 and January 2023. Following the contract, white rice (ATAP) GPCT Broken STX variety will be delivered. The FOB prices were 2.78856 Yuan per kilo and 2788.56 Yuan per tonne. The Export/Import division of the Trade Department issued 42 export licences worth over 534 million Yuan for 41 companies to convey 191,700 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh.

Since 7 September 2017, Myanmar and Bangladesh have engaged in rice trade under the government-to-government pact. That MoU stated that Bangladesh has agreed to buy Myanmar’s white rice (250,000 tonnes) and parboiled rice (50,000) tonnes between 2017 and September 2022. Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food and MRF signed the sales contracts as per the MoU and Myanmar sent 100,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh each in 2017 for the first time and 2021 for the second time, as per the sales contract.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

54 container ships scheduled to arrive at Yangon Port in Dec

A total of 54 container ships carrying many containers are slated to enter Yangon Port in December, according to Myanmar Port Authority. This month, nine cargo ships run by Sealand Maersk Asia, seven each by New Golden Sea (Cosco) and Samudera Shipping Line, five by MSC Line, four by SITC Line, three each by Ever Green Line, IAL, PIL, RCL and X-Press Feeder, two each by Bay Line, BLPL and T12 Container Line and one by Land and Sea Line will enter Yangon Port, totalling 54 cargo ships. Last November, 51 cargo ships arrived at Yangon Port.

Therefore, the number of cargo ships increased by three from last month’s number. Yangon Port handled a total of 620 cargo ships this year, according to Myanmar Port Authority. The number of cargo ships entering Yangon Port stands at 49 in January, 48 in February, 50 in March, 52 in April, 54 in May, 53 in June, 49 in July, 55 each in August and September, 50 in October and 51 in November respectively. From May 2021, the arrival of ships at terminals in Yangon has increased again.

To fulfil the seaborne trade requirements, three new cargo ships by Maersk Line Myanmar (Sealand Maersk) started to run in 2021. Myanmar Port Authority and Yangon inner terminals are providing services to ensure the fast and reliable cargo handling and withdrawal of the containers. Earlier, the larger ships had draft problems preventing their sailing on the Yangon River. The draft extension is up to 10 metres with the new navigation channel accessing the inner Yangon River and the international ocean liners can access the inner port for now.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar