Myanmar to grant surplus rice export through border trade
22/12/2008 16:06
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 today.
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.
Xinhua
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