Myanmar's annual export earnings from rice approach US$ 1 billion
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Htet Nadi/Saw (NP News) - Dec 28
Nearly one billion US dollars is earned annually from rice export, said U Ye Min Aung, Chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation, at a rice briefing held at the Melia Hotel on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, Bahan Township, Yangon on December 24.
Rice is a daily essential ingredient in the Myanmar diet and an important staple food for the Myanmar people. Currently, 80 percent of rice production is consumed domestically.
U Ye Min Aung said, “About 80 percent of rice production in Myanmar is consumed domestically. Only 20 percent is exported. However, that export market is not a small one. It generates about one billion US dollars annually. Therefore, rice is a crop that earns about one billion US dollars.”
During the rice knowledge awareness briefing and discussion session, one housewife was selected from around 20 individuals who had been screened and chosen from various townships and was appointed as a Rice Ambassador. The appointed individual is expected to share and pass on accurate knowledge and practical experience about rice, including different types of rice and their prices, within her residential ward and the surrounding community, it is reported.
The Myanmar Rice Federation is currently working to develop Rice Export Zones in about 100 townships under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation to double exports, with 250,000 acres to be developed in the 2025-2026 summer rice season and 350,000 acres in the 2026-2027 rainy rice season.
In addition, the cultivated area will increase annually to approximately five million acres, with the aim of having one acre of Rice Export Zone for every tonne of rice exported, enabling the export of five million tonnes of rice by 2030.