European Union decided to reintroduce import duties on exports from Myanmar by revoking certain GSP benefits

The European Union has decided to reintroduce import duties on rice exports from Myanmar by revoking certain GSP benefits. The Myanmar Trade Promotion, however,  does not believe it will have a severe impact on Myanmar’s rice exports.

“Since the import duty is only on Indica rice, which is not our main export to EU, the import duty might not have much impact. Plus, the import duty is not very much,’’ said U Aung Soe, Director General of Myanmar Trade Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce.

Myanmar is exporting around 400,000 tons of high quality rice to the EU. There are four types of rice being exported including broken rice. However, the volume of Indica rice, that the EU decided to reimpose import duties on, is only around 60,000 tons per year.

“Without tax exemptions, it can be a little hard, but we will need to wait and see what the impact will be. Moreover, it will only be for three years,’’ said Ko Nay Lin Zin, Joint Secretary of Myanmar Rice Federation.

Starting from January 18, the EU will levy €175 import duty per ton on Myanmar’s rice in year one, €150 per ton in year two, and €125 per ton in year three.

There are only a few traders exporting rice to the EU, and trade at the Bayint Naung Rice Market cooled a bit following the import duty. Most of the traders are planning to look for new markets, according to U Than Oo, Secretary of Bayint Naung Rice Wholesale Market.

Beside the EU, other countries like China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, and African countries are buying rice from Myanmar, which has exported over one million ton of rice from September 2018, to mid January 2019.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/removal-gsp-myanmar-s-rice-unlikely-effect-country-s-rice-exports )        

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