14 July
Myanmar’s imports of raw materials used by CMP (cut-make-pack) businesses exceeded US$1.8 billion between October and July in the present Fiscal Year 2018-2019, up by over $298 million from the year-ago period, the Ministry of Commerce reported this Friday.
At this time last 2017-2018 FY, Myanmar spent $1.5 billion on importing CMP raw materials from overseas trading partners.
In the week from 29 June to 5 July, CMP raw materials amounting to $44.39 million were imported from partner countries, increasing by nearly $5.8 million from the same period in the previous FY, when CMP imports were valued at $38.6 million.
CMP is one of the four major groups of Myanmar’s import products. Garment factories and businesses manufacturing bags and slippers predominantly operate under the CMP system. The garment industry mostly imports raw materials from Japan, Korea, and some European countries, exporting finished goods to those countries.
Besides CMP raw materials, Myanmar also imports capital goods, intermediate goods, and consumer products from countries in Southeast Asia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.
As of 5 July in the current FY, Myanmar has imported $4.37billion worth of capital goods, $5.20 billion worth of intermediate goods and about $2.53 billion worth of consumer goods, totalling $12.113 billion. Despite CMP raw materials, imports of capital goods, intermediate goods and consumer products have declined by over $1.2 billion compared to the previous FY.—Shwe Khine (Translated by Khaing Thanda Lwin)
