Myanmar fish export to Middle-East doubles

YANGON (Xinhua): Myanmar freshwater fish export to Middle-East countries has doubled in the past three years, the local weekly journal Flower News reported Monday.

With most of the freshwater fish export to such Middle-East countries as Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, United Arab Emirate and Saudi Arabia, the export figures reached 43,064 tons in the fiscal year of 2007-08 which ended in March, up from 2004-05's 26,409 tons, the Fishery Department was quoted as saying.



The export earning from the region amounted to 50.99 million U. S. dollars in 2007-08, up from 29.5 million dollars in 2004-05.

Myanmar has been making increased efforts to penetrate the Middle-East market with the marine products using Kuwait as a transit point.

To boost its marine product exports to the region, Myanmar has coordinated with a Kuwaiti economic delegation who accompanied Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in the latter's August visit to Myanmar.

Of the marine product exports to the Middle-East, Kuwait accounted for 27,895 tons alone with 30.63 million dollars' proceeds. Official statistics show that in 2007-08, Myanmar exported 352, 652 tons of marine products, gaining 561 million dollars, up from 2006-07's 234 million dollars.

The fishery authorities have projected to raise the export earning to 850 million dollars in the present fiscal year of 2008- 09.

China topped Myanmar's marine export countries, followed by Thailand, Japan and Singapore. Myanmar's fishery sector stood the fourth largest contributor to the gross domestic product and also the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earning in the past five years.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is cooperating with a regional organization of the Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in conducting survey of marine resources in the country's waters, focusing species with commercial potential.

With a long coastline of over 2,800 kilometers and a total area of 500,000 hectares of swamps along the coast, the country has an estimated sustainable yield of marine products at over one million tons a year.