E-commerce threat for Myanmar’s jade

Description: 

"As if human rights abuses, corruption charges and deadly landslides haven’t hurt the industry enough, Myanmar’s multi-billion-dollar jade and gemstone industry now has to deal with the challenges of e-commerce. Myanmar produces 90 percent of the world’s jade and is a major player in the global gem economy, but poor regulations mean up to two-third of the country’s production is possibly not subjected to tax according to a report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in March. The increasingly affluent China is the biggest market for Myanmar’s jade, and Radio Free Asia has reported how the highly valuable stone is often smuggled untaxed across porous borders to Chinese buyers – and the direct sale of jade online may now make up about 80 percent of all purchases, bypassing Myanmar’s tax collectors..."

Creator/author: 

Jason Thomas

Source/publisher: 

"The ASEAN Post"

Date of Publication: 

2019-10-19

Date of entry: 

2019-10-20

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar, China

Language: 

English

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good