Myanmar to grant surplus rice export through border trade

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/22/content_10542218.htm

YANGON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will grant export of surplus rice through border trade, the local Weekly Eleven News quoted sources with the Ministry of Commerce in Nay Pyi Taw as reporting Monday.

The country's rice export is mainly done through normal trade only but it will also be permitted to do so through border trade if there is surplus rice produced regionally, the sources said, adding that the grant covers surplus rice produced only from Yangon, Sagaing, Bago and Ayeyawaddy divisions.

Meanwhile, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein has urged agricultural entrepreneurs to make greater efforts for exporting more rice, saying that the country has enough cultivable land to boost paddy production.



Out of 17.6 million hectare of cultivable land, only 11.6 million hectares of paddy or 65.9 percent could be grown, Thein Sein told a recent coordination meeting on development of agricultural sector and boosting of export items held in Nay Pyi Taw.

Last year saw a production of 30 million tons of paddy out of 7.6 million hectares grown, but only about 20,000 tons of rice were exported, Thein Sein said, adding that up to October this year, over 170,000 tons of rice had been exported amid Nargis, which was up from the previous year.

"Although Myanmar's rice production has increased, it can be found that she has not been capable of producing more rice than the nations that are smaller and have fewer farmland than Myanmar," he pointed out, citing the fact that Thailand exports 7 million tons of quality rice and Vietnam 4.5 million tons.

"Myanmar is to strive for ensuring local self-sufficiency in rice and export about 3 million tons of rice annually," he outlined.


Editor: Deng Shasha