Export drop won’t cut earnings: B&P body

November 1 - 7, 2010
EXPORT earnings from the sale of beans and pulses are unlikely to fall, despite an expected drop in export volumes, an official said last week.
U Min Ko Oo, general secretary of Myanmar Beans, Pulse and Sesame Merchants Association, said good growing weather in India – the nation’s major export market – would probably reduce demand for imports from Myanmar.
“Our exports are sure to decrease compared with last year because weather conditions have been good in India and farmers there have expanded the amount of land they are cropping. Overall domestic production in India is estimated to be about 20 percent higher than last year.
“As a result, demand from India is not as strong as last year,” U Min Ko Oo said.
In the 2009-10 fiscal year, Myanmar exported about 1.3 millions tonnes of beans and pulses to India, earning about US$980 million, Ministry of Commerce statistics show.
By mid-October this year, about 540,000 tonnes of beans and pulses worth about $550 million had been exported to India.
However, U Min Ko Oo did not believe the fall in export volumes would lead to a large loss of export earnings.
“We don’t believe that our export earnings will decline compared to last year because farmers and traders were able to earn excellent prices for their early harvest crop,” he said.
“This month, we sold about 20,000 tonnes to India as a result of increased demand during the Diwali Festival in November,” he said.
“Prices have also fallen a little and only matpe sales are still strong well. Matpe (FAQ – fair to average quality) is $940 a tonne, toor is $750 and green mung beans (pedisein) is more than $1000,” he added.
U Min Ko Oo said Myanmar’s farmers had increased the acreage under cultivation by 10.5 million acres on last year but matpe and green mung bean production had actually fallen as a result of less-than-ideal weather conditions.
“Matpe production is only 500,000 tonnes instead of the regular 600,000 tonnes, and toor is only 200,000 tonnes instead of the 350,000 we saw last year,” he added.
An exporter said beans and pulses export prices had reached record levels between March and June with matpe, toor and green mung beans all selling for more than $1000 a tonne. At the same time last year, matpe sold for $600 a tonne, toor $650 and green mung beans $800-plus. (Myanmar Times)