More Chinese investors are interested to invest in Myanmar due to the threat of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods

Due to the threat of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Chinese exporters are looking for potential places to make investments, U Aung Kyaw Than, Deputy Director of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, said at Korea-Myanmar Investment Forum held at Lotte Hotel, Yangon, on June 20.

“Some investors are looking for other places to invest — especially in SEZs which already have infrastructure in place,’’ he said.

Myanmar is given Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) on exports to the United States.  The U.S. GSP program promotes economic growth in the developing world by providing duty-free entry to the U.S. market for goods imported from designated beneficiary developing countries. As a least developed beneficiary country of GSP, Myanmar may export almost 5,000 different products to the United States duty-free. Myanmar became a beneficiary of the GSP program on November 13, 2016.

Many items are eligible for GSP duty-free treatment. These include: most manufactured items, including certain luggage and backpacks, handbags and tote bags, wallets and other pocket goods; inputs used in manufacturing; jewelry; many types of carpets; certain agricultural and fishery products; and many types of chemicals and minerals. Among the products that are not eligible for GSP duty-free treatment are most textiles and apparel; watches; most footwear; and certain other products.

With the possibility of U.S tariffs on Chinese products, exportation cost could go higher. So Chinese manufacturing is looking to diversify its production as a way around the tariffs. One place they are eyeing is Myanmar, and the country needs to grab this “golden opportunity.”

The Deputy Director assured his listeners that DICA will grant Chinese investment proposals as soon as possible after examining the submitted proposals.

China is the biggest investor in Myanmar with a total value of approximately $20 billion from 242 investments. This is 26.27 percent of the total number of investments in Myanmar, according to the Data from DICA.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/us-tariffs-threaten-push-more-chinese-investments-myanmar )

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