Traders smuggling rice and paddy out of the country to China will be identified and punished: Myanmar's Minister for Commerce

17 ธันวาคม 2558

In a meeting with four trade associations last week, U Win Myint said he was aware that rice, broken rice and paddy seed were being transported illegally across Myanmar’s porous borders, particularly at the Muse checkpoint in Shan State, adjoining China’s Yunnan province.

“News is spreading that paddy is being smuggled across the border. The great number of vehicles passing through Muse makes it difficult to check them all, but people taking advantage of this to take paddy out of the country will be found and prosecuted,” U Win Myint said.

“Since rice is the staple food in Myanmar, we need to take great care to store reserves. It is very important to protect against low yields and price hikes.”

The El Nino weather pattern – associated with droughts and storms – is likely to gather momentum in the coming months, threatening crop production rates, the minister said. If unusually warm weather persists in Myanmar this winter, 2016 could be a fallow year for paddy.

In the 2008 El Nino, rice production fell and prices increased significantly, he said. At the time, 1 tonne of Thai White Rice 25pc almost tripled in price, from US$300 to $870. Similarly, one tonne of Vietnam’s White Rice 25pc rose to $860 from less than $300.

Earlier this year, nationwide flooding inundated more than 1.4 million acres of farmland, dealing “a major blow to the country’s agriculture”, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in September.

Myanmar’s rice exports are likely to fall this year, due in part to a six- week ban on exports after the floods, the FAO said.

Ministry of Commerce figures show Myanmar exported 1.82 million tonnes last fiscal year.

However, despite this year’s ban on exports, trading continued furtively across the Muse border, insiders told The Myanmar Times, with some traders transporting rice in small light trucks or cars, and others tricking authorities by disguising the rice as other commodities such as sugar.

Officially, this financial year until the end of November, Myanmar exported 949,400 tonnes of rice and broken rice, with border trade accounting for 762,300 tonnes, or 80 percent of the total, U Win Myint said.

He added that traders should diversify their export base by developing shipping routes and striking new international trade deals, to help promote the emerging domestic rice industry.

He told representatives of the Myanmar Rice Federation, the Myanmar Rice Miller Association, the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders Association and the Myanmar Paddy Producers Association that international trade should be conducted according to Ministry of Commerce policies and goals.

The ministry plans to re-draw its rules and procedures to boost international trade, in particular with other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, he said.

“If you study the change in production expenses per acre of paddy field and compare it to the value of 100 bushels of rice, you will see that profits are increasing for our farmers every year.”

The commerce ministry hopes that by 2020 Myanmar will export over 4 million metric tonnes.

Reference:  www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/18129-ministry-to-target-paddy-smugglers.html