Weekly Business News from Myanmar

Myanmar earned USD $ 65 million from rice and broken rice export of more than 220,000 tons within one month of the current fiscal year
Myanmar earned US$ 65 million from exporting more than 220,000 tons of rice and broken rice within one month of the current fiscal year, up US$ 21 million on more than 90,000 tons, compared to the same period of last year, said a source from the Ministry of Commerce. From October 1 to 25 in 2019-2020 financial years, Myanmar exported 220,000 tons of rice and broken rice, up more than 90,000 tons compared to the same period of last year, Khin Maung Lwin, Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce. “Rice and broken rice export volume reaches US$ 65 million, up 21 US$ million, compared to the same period of last year,” said Khin Maung Lwin.
Watermelon growers are in trouble due to the low demand for Myanmar-grown watermelons in Muse border trade area
Farmers say they are having trouble even covering their logistics costs due to a slump in demand for Myanmar-grown watermelons in the Muse border trade area. As the sales of watermelons declined in Muse, the melons traders face difficulties to get even the logistic costs back, said melon farmers. One tonne of melons now fetches from between 600 yuan (K128,000) to 1200 yuan depending on the quality of the fruit, said U Sai Khin Maung, vice chair of the Muse Fruit Wholesale Centre. Although the watermelon is grown in Myanmar year round, most of the melons harvested from November to May are exported to China via Muse. “The melon market has been poor for about one month. During a time of low consumption in our major market, we have had a bumper crop. The crop this time was also of lower quality,” U Sai Khin Maung said.
Yoma Strategic Holdings (YSH) agreed to acquire an additional stake in Digital Money Myanmar (Wave Money) from Yangon listed First Myanmar Investment (FMI)
Yoma Strategic Holdings (YSH) has agreed to acquire an additional 10 per cent stake in Digital Money Myanmar (Wave Money) from Yangon-listed First Myanmar Investment (FMI) for $6 million, Dealstreetasia reported. The transaction will comprise 100,000 ordinary shares and 3.5 million redeemable preference shares, YSH said in a statement. The consideration of $6 million was based on a total equity value of Wave Money at $59.92 million.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Myanmar still lagged behind other countries in ASEAN countries
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Myanmar still lags other countries in ASEAN, according to a report issued by the ASEAN Secretariat last week. The report ASEAN Investment Report 2019: FDI in Services showed that FDI into Myanmar declined despite record-high inflows into other countries in the grouping. FDI in Myanmar in 2018 slumped 11 percent to US$3.6 billion, primarily because of a 48 percent decline in investments in extractive industries. Although the country benefits from over 59 percent of investments from ASEAN countries, Myanmar is the only one among the CLMV countries - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam - that saw a decrease in intra-ASEAN investment.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) on Kyaukphyu SEZ and Kyaukphyu deep seaport will be started
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA) have started in Kyaukphyu SEZ and Kyaukphyu deep seaport. The project will be implemented after signing agreements including shareholder and other ones, said Deputy Minister Aung Htoo of the Ministry of Commerce. “Kyaukphyu was already negotiated in the time of the first government. The contract was changed into a ratio of 70-30 from 85-15. Then a framework agreement was signed. Now, the EIA and SIA have already begun. If the shareholder agreement and other ones are signed, the project will start an operation, said Deputy Minister Aung Htoo. Previously, the agreement showed an 85 % would go to China and a 15 % to Myanmar. In the time of the current government, the project was re-negotiated and was newly signed back. The agreement indicated that a 70% would go to China and 30 % to Myanmar.
Ministry of Hotels and Tourism organized the coordination meeting to promote the Japanese tourists market in Myanmar
The Ministry of Hotel and Tourism organized a coordination meeting to promote the Japan market for tourism as Yangon’s Sule Shangri-La Hotel yesterday. Union Minister U Ohn Maung discussed how they have prepared digital marketing groups for the travel destinations of different countries. He said they have translated CDs and DVDs of Myanmar’s travel destinations into Japanese and distributed them extensively in Japan. He said they have held JATA Tourism Expo and roadshows to attract more Japanese tourists and collaborated with ABC TV to document prominent travel routes in Myanmar. To further promote tourism in the nation, various tourism ambassadors have been assigned, including cherry tree expert Mr Kanta Kori in 2017, fashion designer Mrs Junko Koshino in April 2018, and Japanese singer Morisaki Win in August 2018, said the Union Minister. He said they will hold the annual Japan-Myanmar cherry tree planting ceremony, now in its fourth year, in Loikaw, Nay Pyi Taw and Chin State. He said they reduced visa restrictions in October 2018 to make traveling into Myanmar easier for people from Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and India.
Myanmar expected to attract more investments due to the U.S. tariffs on China
Myanmar expects to attract more investment as manufacturers seeking to relocate production from China to skirt U.S. tariffs encounter capacity constraints in Vietnam, Bloomberg reported. Myanmar’s goal is to woo a total of $5.8 billion in foreign-direct investment this year and is trying to cut back the red tape that deters some companies, according to a senior government official.
UK-aid funded Dana facility and Myanmar Economic Association jointly organized a workshop on Agricultural Value Chain Finance: policy, practice and inclusion in Yangon
Organized by UK-aid funded DaNa facility and Myanmar Economic Association, a workshop on Agricultural Value Chain Finance: policy, practice and inclusion was held in Yangon, Friday. The workshop brought together stakeholders from the Government, the private sector, NGOs, donor organizations, and research institutes to review the current status of policy and practice, promising reforms and developments, to discuss opportunities and to expand access to agricultural finance in the coming years. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research has been supporting collaborative research for development of agriculture sector in Myanmar for about thirty years. Ambassador, Australian Embassy (Myanmar), H.E. Andrea Faulkner said “From an Australian perspective, we really see the importance of agriculture in Myanmar as the economy in Myanmar society and we are very pleased to support and important discussions which is about increasing access to finance for farmers. All stakeholders, all of the groups that are interested, can contribute to finding solutions. This is the really important element, … make a contribution opening up access to finance who really allow farmers to increase their inputs and to stimulate invention and to produce growth...”
The volume of rubber export reached USD $ 6 million within one month of this fiscal year which decreased more than USD $ 4 million when compared to the same period of last fiscal year
Rubber export volume reached US$ 6 million within one month in the current financial year, decreasing by more than US$ 4 million compared to the same period of last year, said Khin Maung Lwin, Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce. From October 1 to 25 in 2019-2020 fiscal years, rubber export volume reached US$ 6.32 million. “Rubber export volume is worth of more than US$ 6 million. In comparison with the same period, the current rubber volume decreased by US$ 4 million,” said Khin Maung Lwin. Mon and Kayin States mostly grow rubber in southern Myanmar. Rubber is also grown in Yangon, Bago and Taninthayi Regions.
The drilling on eight commercial-scale development wells at the Shwe natural gas project will be started early of 2020
Eight commercial-scale development wells at the Shwe natural gas project will be drilled in January 2020, the field’s operator, South Korean conglomerate Posco International Corp revealed. The overall Shwe natural gas project includes the A-1 and A-3 blocks. The A-block contains Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields and A-3 contains the Mya field. The four development wells will be dug first at the Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields in block A-1and the work is expected to take eight months. Once the wells are completed, a pipeline will connect to the platforms and commercial gas production is expected to begin end-2021 or early 2022, said Posco International Myanmar Production Engineer U Win Nyunt Aung. The sites of the eight wells have already been explored and preliminary yield calculations for the sites have been completed.