E-commerce guide published for all online trade and services

by SERVICES

An E-commerce guide has been published for all businesses selling goods and services over the Internet, including online shops.

The Ministry of Commerce has issued an E-commerce guide for all businesses selling trade and services through the Internet, including online shops.
The guidelines state that all those who will be engaged in E-commerce business in Myanmar must register in the registration system managed by the Ministry of Commerce and must comply with the law specified by the relevant field.
In addition to this, E-commerce operators must disclose the methods and information to resolve any dispute regarding the address and phone number registered on the website or social network where they are selling goods.
Furthermore, sellers through the website must include a way to make a contract with the buyer and consumer, and sellers from social networks must also make a contract in some way.
Consumer protection has been included as a chapter in the guide, requiring sellers to clearly describe their goods and services.
Sellers are required to provide information on prices and taxes, as well as delivery and refunds, and if delivery takes more than 15 days beyond the agreed-upon date, the buyer may terminate the transaction and receive a full refund following the agreement.
It is forbidden to use the endorsement of people who are not actual users of the product. E-commerce operators must keep payment records for at least three years and provide them free of charge if requested by users. It is also instructed to provide such information if requested by the court or authorities.
There are 99 points in the guidelines for e-commerce businesses, which are rules to be followed based on disputes between buyers and sellers of goods and services.
These rules are issued for all methods of commerce, including payment systems for online businesses, advertising terms, copyright, fraudulent sales and fraudulent purchases, and consumer protection rules.
The E-commerce guidelines can be read on the official website of the Ministry of Commerce named www.commerce.gov.mm, as stated by the ministry. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Manufacturing sector exports surpass US$3 billion by 25 August

by MANUFACTURING

The export value from the manufacturing sector totalled US$3.85 billion as of 25 August in the financial year 2023-2024 beginning 1 April, Director U Nanda of the Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerce said.
Exports by the private sector were estimated at $2.51 billion while exports worth $1.34 billion were performed by the government sector.
“Myanmar’s manufacturing sector is largely concentrated in garment and textiles manufactured on the cutting, making, and packaging (CMP) basis this FY,” U Nanda said.
The CMP garment export is the main export item in Myanmar, followed by natural gas. Meanwhile, petroleum products are top import goods, followed by textile and garment raw materials.
Myanmar also exports agricultural produce, livestock, fisheries, minerals and forest products to external markets. Of export item groups, the manufacturing sector generates the highest export earnings.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

MoHT eyes Russian, Chinese, Indian tourists in peak season

by HOTEL & TOURISM

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism expects international tourists from Russia, China and India in the
upcoming tourism peak season this year. The ministry is joining hands with private businesspersons to
effectuate the development in the tourism sector. The ministry expects arrivals of 150,000-200,000 Russian tourists this season. The ministry is exerting concerted efforts with the stakeholders in the industry to welcome Russian travellers to Myanmar under the “Welcome Russia Programme in Myanmar”.
“There is a promising prospect of tourism development at present. We must accelerate efforts in the
post-COVID-19 pandemic to attract Russians to eye Myanmar as a potential travel destination as Myanmar has strengthened ties with Russia. In addition to Russia, we offer a Visa on Arrival service for Chinese and Indian travellers. We expect an influx of tourist arrivals. We will endeavour to enhance tourism. We are primarily cooperating with the private sector. We are trying to support the stakeholders in the industry engaged in hotel, restaurant and tour agencies,” Union Minister Dr Thet Thet Khine of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism gave a remark at the launching ceremony of the Yangon-Mandalay-Novosibirsk maiden flight held on 5 September.
Myanmar-Russia direct aviation connectivity will surely promote tourism. It will also bring about
business opportunities for those engaged in the tourism sector as high tourism season is approaching, she added. Besides the current Yangon-Mandalay-Novosibirsk direct flight, Myanmar Airways International will expand its wings to St Petersburg, Moscow and other 11 cities in China including Beijing by long-haul flights using Airbus A330.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Myawady border trade route recovers amidst soaring foodstuffs prices

by TRADING

The Myawady border trade route has been recovered to travel normal traffic including trucks by the end of August due to the ungently repairing of concerned officials but the price of most imported foodstuffs is still rising in the Yangon market.
Daw Lay Ni, a housewife in Sangyoung township, told GNLM that the imported foodstuffs prices are rising again instead of coming back down in the final days of the September first week.
The price of locally produced coffee which was bought at K100 in the retail market before 2022 has risen to K300. The instant coffee sachet (18 grammes) made in Thailand was priced at K300 starting from the end of August from at K250 in the August third week.
Similarly, a Cereal sachet (30g) is also risen to K350 and the price of an instant Cereal sachet (20g) is increased from K500 to K600. A Cereal big package, a domestic product, including 20 small sachet (30g) is increased to K6,200 from K4,700 before the Thingyan Festival period.
Not only the price of foodstuffs in the imported items has been increased in the market for the reason of transportation issues but also the price of domestic foodstuffs has risen. Consumers said that transportation has returned to normal right now but the prices of foodstuffs and related items have not come down.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

UMFCCI, KADIN sign MoU agreement to bolster economic relations

by ECONOMY

Indonesia-Myanmar Roundtable Dialogue with participants from Indonesian and Myanmar successful entrepreneurs was held at the Sultan Hotel on the same day and stepped up bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The two countries reaffirmed the commitment to maintain vigorous economic relations at the roundtable dialogue, which took place during the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Jakarta.

The dialogue shed light on promising trade and investment cooperation in various sectors, from best-selling consumer goods to garment manufacturing and energy collaboration and financial and trade transaction matters.

The chair of ASEAN-BAC and the KADIN, Mr M Arsjad Rasjid P M elaborated that “As ASEAN matters as an epicentre of growth, we make sure to leave no one behind. We expect cooperation in the multiple industries of the two nations.

The ASEAN-BAC Myanmar Chair and President of the UMFCCI U Aye Win expressed his deep appreciation to the KADIN for cooperation and support. He highlighted that economic stability plays a pivotal role in accelerating the momentum of regional integration”.

The MoU between the KADIN and UMFCCI covers knowledge sharing, best practices, organizing joint activities like conferences and workshops and prioritizing the promotion of business ventures and projects. Last but not least Indonesia plays a pivotal role in the palm oil supply for Myanmar’s households. Similarly, Myanmar is also crucial in the rice and pulses trade for Indonesia. Thus, dealing with food security is of vital importance, he emphasized in the dialogue.

Source:The Global New Light of Myanmar

MAI’s Myanmar-Russia direct flight lands back in Yangon successfully

by HOTEL & TOURISM

The MAI launched the Yangon-Mandalay-Novosibirsk-Mandalay-Yangon flight on 5 September ensuring the essential connectivity between the Russian Federation and Myanmar, and the flight landed in Yangon successfully yesterday morning.
The MAI flight left for Russia at 2:05 pm on 5 September from Yangon International Airport and headed to Novosibirsk in Russia from Mandalay. Before the departure to Russia, the relevant officials of Mandalay Region cordially met flight passengers and had commemorative photos taken with them at Mandalay International Airport.
To strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries, the two governments, departmental officials, tourism industries and travel and tour companies should promote their tourism industries with their existing cultural heritage, picturesque scenes and beaches.
Moreover, the MAI launched the new flight not just for the profits but for aiming to facilitate the trade flows of the two countries, economy, hotels and tourism industries, health and other services for the people of the two countries.
The Myanmar-Russia direct flight will operate twice a week every Tuesday and Saturday. Myanmar travellers can visit the territory of the Russian Federation including its city Moscow from Novosibirsk with Russia’s S7 airlines. Similarly, Russian travellers can visit Myanmar and ASEAN countries where the MAI operates its flights.
Besides the current new flight, the MAI will fly to Moscow, and St Petersburg in Russia soon with flights like Airbus A330 and long-haul flights. Moreover, it also arranged to expand operations to 11 cities including Beijing in China.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

MoC introduces innovative rice export licensing system

by ECONOMY

Ministry of Commerce’s efforts are to stabilize domestic rice prices and avert escalation

The Ministry of Commerce stated that they have started to use the export licence system, which will be applied only after the rice and rice products to be exported are pre-screened and 100 per cent ready, even though the rice export licence will not be suspended.
The Ministry is working to stabilize domestic rice prices and prevent further price increases. The Ministry also responded to the Myanmar Rice Federation’s submission for a three-month suspension of rice and rice products exports, saying that no suspension will occur. Despite that, they started exercising the export licensing system on 1 September, which will be granted only when 100 per cent of the rice and rice products to be exported are pre-verified and ready.
In addition, the implementation of the system of warehouse registration has already started to stabilize the price of domestic rice, ensure that the price does not rise again, and control the actions of the hoarders to manipulate the market.
As of 21 August 2023, there were 3.449 million tonnes of rice left in the country, and if the 2.371 million tonnes needed for domestic consumption in the three months until November were subtracted, there would be 1.077 million tonnes of rice left. As there is a condition to export rice regularly, there is no need to suspend the export of rice.
A total of 0.928 million tonnes of rice have been exported from October 2022 to 18 August 2023.

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

Announcement of Central Committee on Prevention, Controland Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

by COVID

IT is necessary to control Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection continuously.
So, it is now announced that public requests, orders, notifications and directives except
for easing restrictions released by Union-level Organizations and Union Ministries up
to 31 August 2023 have been extended to 30 September 2023 for prevention, control and
treatment on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

53 container vessels slated to arrive in Sept

by LOGISTICS

A total of 53 container ships are scheduled to call in September at Yangon Port, according to the Myanma Port Authority.
In September, seven container vessels each run by Samudera Shipping Line and Sealand Maersk Asia, five by COSCO Shipping Line, four each by IAL Line, MSC Line, RCL Line and SITC Line, three each by Evergreen Line and PIL Line, two each by BAY Line and BLPL Shipping Line, one each by CMA CGM Line, Land & Sea Line and Ti2 Container Line are slated to dock at Yangon Port.
This year, 52 container ships each in January and February, 55 in March, 50 in April, 56 in May, 57 in June, 53 in July and 54 in August arrived at Yangon Port.
Yangon Port handled a total of 620 container vessels this year. Following the draft extension, the international ocean liners can access the inner port for now, according to the Myanma Port Authority’s statement on 22 June 2022.
After the new navigation channel (Kings Bank Channel) accessing the inner Yangon River was found, the draft extension work was accelerated. After that, the port can now handle larger ships. The container vessel (185.99-metre LOA, 35.25-metre BOA, 29,232 GRT and 2,698 TEU) Hongkong-based SITC Shipping Line docked at Asia World Port Terminal for the first time on 22 June.
That vessel is the largest ship that AWPT Port handled.
From May 2021, the arrival of the ships at terminals in Yangon has increased again. To fulfil the seaborne trade requirements, three new container vessels by Maersk Line Myanmar (SeaLand Maersk) started to run in 2021.
Earlier, the larger ships had draft problems preventing their sailing on the Yangon River. The draft was extended up to 10 metres, so the larger ocean liners could enter Thilawa Port.
The coast of Myanmar is 2,228 kilometres (1,260 nautical miles) including the Rakhine coastline (713 kilometres), delta region (437 kilometres) and Taninthayi coastline (1,078 kilometres), stretching from northern Bangladesh’s border to southern Thailand’s border area. There are 10 seaports along the coastline, including Yangon Port, Thilawa Deep Seaport, Kyaukphyu Deep Seaport, Sittway Port, Thandwe Port, Pathein Port, Mawlamyine Port, Dawei Deep Seaport, Myeik Port and Kawthoung Port.
Seaborne trade accounts for 75 per cent of foreign trade. However, Yangon Port including Thilawa terminals is the only international port and the remaining ports in eight cities are designated for the domestic way only. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

YRIC nods 45 domestic, foreign enterprises in eight months

by INVESTMENT

The Yangon Region Investment Committee (YRIC) endorsed 45 domestic and foreign enterprises in the past eight months (January-August) and the manufacturing sector topped the investment lineups, U Myo Khaing Oo, director of Yangon Region DICA said.
Those enterprises include manufacturing businesses, garment businesses, hotel businesses and service businesses. The majority of them are CMP businesses.
“YRIC gives the go-ahead to 45 wholly domestic and foreign businesses. The CMP garment businesses played a key player among those endorsed businesses in February-August, creating 18,603 jobs for residents,” U Myo Khaing Oo shared information.
China is the leading investor in Myanmar’s CMP garment factories, followed by Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the Republic of Korea and Japan. The clothes and apparel are sent to Thailand, China, Singapore and European countries.
There are 505 garment factories, 48 footwear manufacturing enterprises, eight wig factories and 177 factories engaged in the production of bags, sportswear, sports shoes and socks on a CMP basis in the Yangon Region, in line with the existing rules and regulations. 

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar