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According to Myanmar Corn Industrial Association (MCIA), the demand for Myanmar corn from foreign countries is on the rise. With the rising demand for Myanmar corn, the price of corn is likely to increase this year, said an official from MCIA. Last year, Myanmar corn was demanded a bit from the foreign market. But this year, three countries have enquired Myanmar corn in a single day. True, last year saw Myanmar corn having demand, but it was only a small volume.

This year, Thailand is preparing to buy corn from Myanmar. At the same time, the demand from Viet Nam is on the rise to buy Myanmar corn.
Yearly, Thailand, Viet Nam and Laos are buying Myanmar corn as they do annually have a high requirement of corn in their countries. This year too, these countries are demanding Myanmar corn as in the previous years.
Myanmar annually produces around 3 million tonnes of corn from 607,000 hectares of land.

It is grown in all regions and states but especially in Shan State, and Sagaing and Magway regions. Myawady corn commodity depot has planned to open in the third week of January in 2021. The depot will be opened to ensure fair trade of corn on the Myawady border and for the greater convenience of the trading. This year, the association targeted to export 1.6 million tonnes of corn. Last year, Myanmar exported over 2.2 million tonnes of corn to the foreign market, with an estimated value of over US$360 million, according to the data of the Ministry of Commerce.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

The work coordination meeting regarding gold exports to Japan and appraisal was inaugurated at the One-Stop Service Centre (OSSC) on 5th floor of UMFCCI on 28 January, Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association (YGEA) stated. At the coordination meeting, Taw Win Myint Company conducted appraisals of the gold and jewellery which are designated for exports to Japan via air freight. The appraisal team assessed 13 gold items including earrings, rings, pendants and other designs at the OSSC. Myanmar’s gold export paused after a change in the payment system, and now it has returned to normal from July 2020.

As per the notification released by the Ministry of Commerce, starting from April, the international remittance for gold purchase has changed from Telegraph Transfer (TT) to Letter of Credit (LC). As a result of this, payment can take about two months, cost banking service changes by two sides, and increase the charges for security matter in transportation. Meanwhile, gold trading in the international market has also come to a stop due to volatile prices. The YGEA have already submitted a request for the resumption of the TT payment system to the Ministry of Commerce. Gold and other pieces of jewellery are primarily purchased by Japan and the ROK, and other tourists also buy them.

Myanmar gave greenlight to gold exports and imports in January 2018, with the aims to eradicate illegal trade, earn revenue for the country and maintain the market’s stability. The local gold market has become sluggish as the pandemic shut down the events like wedding and traditional festivals, gold traders pointed out. As the gold price is fast to spike yet slow to fall in the domestic market, the sellers exceed the buyers in the domestic gold market, traders said. At present, the old gold scrap and jewellery are refined into the pure gold bar. The raw material has not come from gold mining as the transportation restriction halted gold mining. Myanmar’s gold price is related to global rates. The domestic gold price rose to K1,336,000 per tical (0.578 ounces, or 0.016 kilogrammes) on 6 January 2021 when the gold price rallied to US$1,944 per ounce.

On 28 January 2021, the price showed downtick with K1,316,600 per tical while gold price slid into $1,837 per ounce in the global market. The daily transaction of 50 visses (a viss equals 1.6kg) of gold were earlier seen in the market. Now, about 5-10 visses are rarely traded per day, according to YGEA. According to gold traders, the domestic gold was priced with the minimum rate of K1,216,500 (1 July) and the maximum rate of K1,296,500 (27 July). The price moved in the range of, K1,286,500 on 13 August and K1,332,500 on 7 August. The local gold reached the lowest level of K1,310,500 (2 September) and the highest level of K1,314,000 (1 September). In October, the rate ranged between K1,307,800 (30 October) and K1,316,500 (21 October). The rate fluctuated between the highest of K1,312,000 (16 November) and the lowest of K1,278,000 (28 November). In December, the pure yellow metal priced moved in the range of 1,275,000 (1 December) and 1,333,000 (28 December).

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Myanmar has targeted to export 2 million tonnes of rice in 2020-2021 (Oct/Sept) fiscal year, down from 2.5 million tonnes last fiscal year as summer paddy cultivation drops, said U Ye Min Aung, Chairman of Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF). Weather changes affected irrigation water resource availability on agriculture. The water resource in reservoirs and lakes sharply dropped because of weather changes. Consequently, the decrease in irrigation water availability scaled-down the acreage of summer paddy. Last FY, Myanmar shipped about 2.5 million tonnes of rice to external markets.

This year, Myanmar expect approximately only 2 million tonnes in exports. During Q1 of the present FY (1 October to 31 December 2020), Myanmar exported over 270,000 tonnes of rice via a border and over 370,000 tonnes through sea trade to the foreign markets, totalling about 600,000 tonnes of rice. The country shipped over 800,000 tonnes through maritime trade and over 130,000 tonnes via border to foreign trade partners in the corresponding period of last FY, with an estimated volume of 900,000 tonnes. As a result of this, the figures showed a drop of 300,000 tonnes of rice in exports.

Additionally, the high price in the domestic market and instability of foreign exchange rates are contributing factors to the slump in exports, MRF Chair U Ye Min Aung continued. The main reason why Myanmar’s rice export falls is the price gain in the domestic market and forex trading. A US dollar has pegged at around K1,300 in recent days. The instability in the forex market affects the export sector. That could pose difficulties to the exporters. The federation has also reported this to the government. The instability in the exchange rate is the important factor of the trade balance of the country. It also has direct impacts on all the export sector, including livestock and fishery products beyond agricultural export. Myanmar generated over $800 million from rice exports in the previous FY2019-2020 ended 30 September, with an estimated volume of over 2.5 million tonnes.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar