Japanese firm, Japan’s JFE Engineering Corporation will help building an industrial zone for agricultural goods in Yangon

A Japanese company will develop an industrial zone in Yangon focusing on the production of value-added agricultural goods.

Japan’s JFE Engineering Corporation and Myanmar’s Dagon International Co. signed a memorandum of understanding on development of the industrial zone on Tuesday.

The US$150-million (227.55 billion-kyat) industrial zone will be established on 500 acres of land owned by Dagon International Co. in East Dagon Township, according to U Thurein Aung, the chief executive officer of the Myanmar company.

“Though we are an agricultural country, we only export primary products, which are processed by foreign countries and exported back to us as value-added products. So, if we can invite those processing plants into our country, we will be able to make value-added goods from our agricultural produce and supply them to consumers,” he told The Irrawaddy.

The proposed industrial zone will also supply raw materials to large factories investing in the Japan-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone on the outskirts of Yangon, U Thurein Aung said.

Daw Kye Mon Lwin, founder of Organic Valley, an organic food producer, said, “It is good to have such an industrial zone. We have difficulties with storing surplus fruit and vegetables. So this industrial zone will provide an opportunity to turn them into value-added products,”.

The industrial zone will be devoted to labor-intensive operations and will house factories and plants, exhibition halls, workshops for small and medium-sized enterprises, research centers, a wholesale market, shops and residential buildings.

(The Irrawaddy: https://www.irrawaddy.com/business/japanese-firm-to-help-build-industrial-zone-for-agricultural-goods-in-yangon.html )

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