20 September
EXPORT earnings from the fishery sector for the period from October 2018 to August 2019 in the current fiscal year amounted to around US$667.007 million, which is an increase of $15.778 million compared to the year-ago period, according to the Myanmar Fisheries Federation (MFF).
During the October-August period in the 2017-2018FY, Myanmar had exported 536,396.005 tons of fishery products, worth $651.219 million. During the same period in the 2018-2019FY, the country has export-ed 544,533.187 tons of fishery products, worth $667.007 mil-lion. So, the export volume has increased by 8,137.132 tons, worth $15.778 million, in the current FY.
“Myanmar has earned $667 million from export of fishery products within 11 months. This means it has earned just $60 million per month. If we add $60 million for the month of September, our earnings will total only $720 million, which will be a slight increase compared with last year. This is because of problems in the the trade route between China and Myanmar. This could have affected the export of fishery products. In addition, Myanmar had also banned fishing in the no-fishing season,” said U Win Kyaing, the general secretary of the MFF.
Between 1 April, 2018 and 31 March, 2019, export earnings from the fisheries sector reached an all-time high of $720 million.
Myanmar earned $482 mil-lion from the fisheries sector in the 2014-2015FY, $502 million in the 2015-2016FY, and $652 mil-lion in the 2016-2017FY.
Currently, the Myanmar government has permitted exports of only natural fishery products such as fish and prawns to China because China has restricted fishery imports due to concerns over food safety. Therefore, the export of some fish and prawns, which are not listed with the General Administration of Customs (GACC), may prove to be difficult.
“The volume of Myanmar’s fishery exports is still much low-er than its neighboring countries. Therefore, we need to adopt good breeding practices to promote exports,” according to the fisheries department.
Myanmar exports fishery products such as fish, prawns, and crabs to over 40 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Thailand.
(Translated by Hay Mar)
By Aye Yamone
