Weekly Business News from Myanmar

Myanmar is planning to build new high-quality oil refineries to fulfill local demands for oil products
Myanmar is planning to build new high-quality oil refineries to reduce the reliance on the oversea market and to fulfil local demands for oil products, Xinhua reported. Plans are underway to provide technical assistance and issue temporary licenses to the current operating mini oil refineries with daily production of 3,000 to 30,000 gallons of crude oil for the production of high-quality oil products, Tin Maung Oo, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy said.
Myanmar is committed to facilitating economic growth, enhancing regional trade and economic cooperation within ASEAN
Asean, including Myanmar, will work together to restore economic growth in the region by enhancing regional trade and economic cooperation. This will include efforts to address trade barriers, promote trade and investment, and expand fields of cooperation, according to a statement released by the trade bloc to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19, issued last week. Asean leaders as well as Japan, China and Korea agreed to launch a coordinated response to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic to their respective countries and the region following a meeting on June 4. U Thaung Tun, Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations attended the meeting on behalf of Myanmar.
The billion dollars of goods have crossed the Thai – Myanmar border through dozens of illegal trade gates
The closure of dozens of illegal trade gates along the border with Thailand to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is causing shortages of everything from beer and energy drinks to detergent and cosmetics, highlighting the vast scale of informal trade with Thailand. For decades, billions of dollars of goods have crossed the Thai-Myanmar border through dozens of illegal trade gates in Kayin State’s Myawaddy Township that are run by armed groups. Each day, hundreds of trucks drive to the Thai side of the Thaung Yin (or Moei) River in Mae Sot, where their cargo is processed by Thai Customs, unloaded by hand onto small boats, ferried across the narrow stretch of water to Myawaddy and stored in warehouses for distribution throughout Myanmar. Most of this happens in broad daylight, and is legal on the Thai side and tacitly approved in Myanmar.
More than 120 coronavirus-hit businesses received emergency loan in Mandalay Region
More than 400 coronavirus-hit businesses from Mandalay Region have applied for emergency Coronavirus Fund and 123 of them have been approved to receive the loan so far, said an official of the Mandalay Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “A total of 417 businesspersons applied for the loan at Mandalay Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MRCCI). Some applied through an online platform. As the Fund to enterprises battered by the pandemic is set at K100 billion and the loan granted has not reached its fund limit of K100 billion, there is still hope for businesses. During the pandemic, the fund will contribute the businesses a lot. Furthermore, the interest rate of 1 per cent for a one-year period is extremely low. The businesses approved for the loan includes food industry, weaving business, hotels and tourism enterprise, private schools and gems and jewellery business,” said MRCCI general secretary U Okkar Kyaw.
Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas commences LNG exports to Myanmar
Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas on June 5 delivered the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Myanmar. The deliveries were made on a free-on-board basis as part of an agreement made earlier this year between Petronas subsidiary Petronas LNG Ltd (PLL) and Chinese company CNTIC VPower, which last year won four power generation projects in Myanmar. PLL delivered a total of 190,000 cubic meters of LNG to Myanmar. “The two LNG cargoes that were successfully delivered to CNTIC VPower marks a new era in the growth of LNG demand in the Southeast Asian region,” PLL’s CEO, Abdul Aziz Othman said in a statement.
Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MOHT) issued the health guidelines for hotels and motels
The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has issued health guidelines for hotels and motels, which are not currently used as quarantine facilities, as the country aims to open its tourism industry with domestic tourism. The guidelines include requiring hotels and guesthouses not to let guests stay in the establishment if he or she started to show the COVID-19 symptoms and temporarily isolate the suspected patients in a room until health authorities arrive. Moreover, the guidelines also require hotels and motels to provide information such as preventive measures of the COVID-19, and contact and locations of hospitals and clinics at the reception as well as registering guests with fever and informing the local health authorities.
Myanmar will generate its first Chinese-backed LNG power plant in Yangon very soon
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) says the overdue Chinese-backed liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Yangon will operate “very soon” now deliveries from Malaysia have arrived. On Thursday, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company, Petronas, said it delivered 190,000 cubic meters of LNG for the Yangon projects, which will be the first of their kind in Myanmar. MOEE said the 400-megawatt (MW) plant in Thaketa Township and 350MW power station in Thanlyin Township would not run at full capacity while they were using a temporary jetty and mobile-filling platform. Meanwhile, Myanmar is constructing a jetty to receive LNG to allow the plants to run at full capacity.
The manufacturers in Myanmar expected to restart their production in coming months
Manufacturers in Myanmar are expected to restart production in the coming months after a fall in activity in April and May, according to data firm IHS Markit’s Myanmar Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) report published on June 1. The PMI - which ranges from 0 to 100 - plummeted to 29.0 in April, from March’s 45.3. Then, the PMI remained below 50.0 in May, as 38.9 in May. A reading above 50 indicates an overall increase compared to the previous month. It is derived from indicators for new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases.
Myanmar government’s stimulus package benefit 1,000 enterprises in three months
The government of Myanmar has launched its economic stimulus packages to help survive the local enterprises in the face of harsh economic uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 27, it announced an economic relief plan: ‘Overcoming as One: Covid-19 Economic Relief Plan’ However, it has granted credit to a total of 1,016 local enterprises between April 9 and June 2 using Covid-19 Funds, according to the Working Committee to Address the Possible Economic Impacts of COVID-19. The Myanmar Economic Bank, a state-owned bank, granted loans to local enterprises batch by batch.
The bilateral trade value between Germany and Myanmar reached near USD $ 400 million in the half months of 2019 – 2020 financial year
Trade value between Myanmar and Germany between October and March of the current fiscal year 2019-2020 crossed US$398.85 million, according to the data of the Ministry of Commerce. Myanmar’s export to Germany surpassed its import, with $302 million worth of export and $96.5 million valued import, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce. Beyond regional trade regime, Myanmar has established trade links with EU members. Germany is the biggest trade partner in the European Union, followed by France. The main export items are rice, pulses, tea leaf, coffee, garments on Cut-Make-Pack basis and fisheries. Meanwhile, machinery, data-processing equipment, electrical and optical goods, chemical products, motor vehicles and parts and pharmaceutical products, cosmetic, food and beverages and consumer goods are imported into Myanmar.