With the support of the DaNa Facility, a UK aid, the Customs Department under Ministry of Planning and Finance will set the development Custom Bonded Warehouse programme to provide boost to Myanmar industries

The Customs Department, Ministry of Planning and Finance, and the DaNa Facility, a UK aid funded programme, yesterday launched the Developing Custom Bonded Warehouse programme to introduce customs officers and relevant stakeholders to the potential of a bonded warehouse system in supporting the local industry.

Bonded warehouses are specifically designed to support industry, particularly those which import high value and/or high import duty goods. Through bonded warehouses, these sectors will have the ability to defer their import duties and taxes until they themselves find customers willing to buy the goods or identify export markets. This implies that they can improve productivity and better manage their cash flows.

The system allows for exported finished goods to be more competitively priced in regional and global markets as export pricing does not include embedded duty and tax charges.  Examples are found in the garment exporting countries, where shorter lead-time is a competitive factor. 

U Aung San Tun, Deputy Director General of the Customs Department said, “The customs warehousing business has improved accompanied with increased job opportunities. Especially, opportunities for Cut, Make, Pack (CMP) manufacturing could increase in areas such as delivering goods to customers in real time, saving costs of transportation and manufacturing, allowing higher competitive capacities to enter international markets. 

Furthermore, oversea owners may specify our country as a buffer place, increasing not only jobs at bonded warehouses but also collections of duties and taxes. Additionally, trade with neighbouring countries would be more developed if customs and bonded warehouses are situated at border points.” 

Bonded warehouse systems not only streamline export and import process and contribute to the transformation of key industries such as garments and other manufacturing, but also create an environment conducive to linkages between SMEs and large multinational and local firms.

The Performance Index of Myanmar stands at 137 out of 160 according to World Bank in 2018. 

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/bonded-warehouse-programme-set-provide-boost-myanmar-industries.html )

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