Agricultural marketing

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Description: "Price increases are now affecting a broader range of commodities when compared to reporting from last month – average prices are up for palm oil (+11%), mixed oil (+8%), rice (+3%), onions (+11%), tomatoes (+22%), and pulses (+5%) compared to last month. The local rise in oil prices is linked to a broader global upward trend, exacerbated by import restrictions and rising transportation costs domestically. In urban areas of Mandalay and Yangon, oil prices rose again, by 14% and 20% for mixed oil and cooking oil, respectively, in Mandalay, and by 14% for both mixed and cooking oil in Yangon. Rice prices remained mostly stable (+1-2%) in both areas. Compared to pre-crisis (January 2021), average prices of mixed oil and cooking oil have increased by 38% while rice has increased by 9% overall. Compared to the same time last year (May 2020), the average price of mixed oil has increased by 52%, cooking oil by 47%, and rice by 18%. Compared to last month, Sagaing has seen particularly steep increases across a range of commodities due to fuel price increases and disruption in transport, with average prices increasing +10% for rice, +16% for mixed oil, +27% for palm oil and onions respectively, +76% for tomato, and +3% for eggs, pulses and chickpeas respectively. Between mid-May and mid-June, fuel prices largely stayed stable except in Dawei in the Southeast and in northern Rakhine (Buthidaung) where increases ranged from 6-13% depending on the fuel type. Compared to the first week of February, the average percent increase was 42% across all townships and fuel types..."
Source/publisher: World Food Programme (Rome) via reliefweb (New York)
2021-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar has drawn up standards and specifications for 26 agricultural products to ensure them meet international standards and to bolster export through improving the quality of the products, according to the Agriculture and Market Information Agency Monday. Standards of rice, beans and pulses, watermelon, banana, pomelo and coffee are among those approved, while standards for durian, mangosteen, muskmelon, peanut, sesame, mango, onion, corn, cashew nut, coconut and pineapple are being drafted for submission to the government for approval. Myanmar is drafting the standards and specifications in both English and Myanmar languages with the help of local and foreign experts including those from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an official from the Consumer Affairs Department said. Myanmar's Union Parliament enacted the law on Standardization on July 3, 2014, aimed at helping promote export by improving the quality of production organizations and their products as well as their services..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-09-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Earnings from Myanmar’s agricultural exports have fallen by around 20 percent since the NLD-government took office in 2015 due to a lack of planning, technological progress and policy direction, insiders said. The fall in export earnings also coincides with a widening trade deficit and dearer exchange dollar exchange rate, which should make the country’s exports cheaper and more attractive to international buyers. Yet, “there has been little change in the agriculture sector and implementation of new policies has not been very effective. Some have even introduced more difficulties for farmers,” said U Soe Win Maung, adviser to Myanmar Pulses, Beans & Sesame Seeds Merchants Association. While the number of loans available by the Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank has increased, for example, farmers face the additional hassle of having to fill up forms and complete other administrative processes. Meanwhile, it is not uncommon for loan disbursements to take longer than expected, so farmers end up receiving the funds after they are needed..."
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Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2018-09-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: Introduction: "Rural community is one of the strengths in country building. In a nation-­‐state administrative policy changes are followed by economic policy changes, then by changes in livelihood strategies. To members of rural society mostly existing on agriculture livelihood strategies go different based on accessibility of assets. To become a modern, developed nation mainly means brisk economic development, in which increased rural production plays an important part. A bout (70) percent of Myanmar population are rural and farmers by the livelihood. Agriculture sector is the main prop to Myanmar?s economic structure. Rice is the staple food of Myanmar people and paddy cultivation is the livelihood of majority of cultivators in the country. The Union Government is working for betterment of agriculture sector as well as farmers? life. In implementing with increased momentum rural development program aimed at enhancement of rural people?s socio-­‐economic development, it is necessary to know of their present status, needs and desires.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Shin Thynn Tun
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.88 MB
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Description: Conclusion: "The stable supply of rice at a low price continued to be the principal rationale of the rice marketing system in Myanmar even after the two liberalisations. The transition from comprehensive state control over rice marketing that began with the first liberalisation and continued with the second can be seen as an ad hoc transformation of the marketing system in response to the changing economic and political situation. It eventually took the form of gradual rice price deregulation. After the two liberalisations, Myanmar?s rice-marketing system shifted from being one supported by the rice procurement and ration systems and export controls to one solely dependent on rice export controls to achieve the low rice price policy. This policy orientation determined the development of the private rice marketing sector. The whole sector was allowed to develop only in the remaining sphere of the rice marketing sector and on condition that it did not jeopardise the stable supply of rice at a low price. This was the inevitable consequence of Myanmar?s rice marketing policy. In the liberalisation process, however, the private rice marketing sector was able to achieve self-sustaining development. The government?s policy to promote rice production and cut-backs in the volume of rice procurement increased the amount of rice sold in the market, which induced more traders to enter the rice-marketing business. This was a clear manifestation of the latent willingness of Myanmar?s traders to grasp whatever small opportunities arose to increase profits, opportunities that had been closed for more than one-quarter of a century during the socialist period. The rice traders who expanded business while avoiding conflicts with the government rice policy were the ones who were able to survive during the 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, however, the private rice marketing sector had reached a crossroads as the domestic rice market approached total saturation. This problem was most evident in the tough business conditions facing medium and large-scale rice millers. The worn-out state of their mills grew apace, but they could not risk venturing into new investments under the existing market structure where low and medium-quality rice was in greatest demand. Even in the milling of lower-quality rice, the big mills were losing out to the growing number of small-scale rice mills in the villages. Thus, by the time of the second liberalisation, medium and large-scale rice mills were facing a crisis in their operations. What are the implications of this transformation of the rice sector in accordance with the low rice price policy to the development of Myanmar?s national economy? The first implication is the poor prospects for the development of the rice industry. It cannot be denied that the commercial and processing industries of Myanmar?s rice marketing sector continue to be the base of the rural economy. In neighbouring Thailand, rice millers turned to exporting and, with the accumulated capital, expanded their businesses to other industries with great success. In Myanmar, one would hope that the same scenario could play out for private rice traders and millers. In reality, however, there is little prospect that private rice exporting will be allowed in the near future. The present government is unlikely to change its rice policy, which prioritises a low price for the sake of political stability. Since export controls become the sole direct policy tool that the government has for keeping the price of rice low, it will remain reluctant to undertake any rapid deregulation of rice exports. This means that the private rice marketing sector will have to survive within the confines of the present domestic market, which limits demand largely to low and medium-quality rice. Thus the government?s rice policy has again thwarted the development of Myanmar?s rice industry and denied it the potential to stimulate growth in the economy as a whole. The second implication, which could be more serious than the first, is the absence of a clear scenario to utilise the low rice price for development led by industrialisation (Fujita and Okamoto 2006). Generally speaking, the low rice price policy itself is not unique to Myanmar, and has been adopted in various developing countries, especially in the early stages of economic development. The purpose is to promote industrialisation using cheap labour, backed by the low price of rice. Any clear vision for this type of industrialisation has, however, been barely observed for Myanmar in the past 19 years. The low rice price policy has not gone beyond the purpose of maintaining the regime and it is likely to continue that way for some time."
Creator/author: Ikuko Okamoto
Source/publisher: 2006 Burma Update Conference via Australian National University
2007-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-12-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Abstract: "Creating a rice marketing system has been one of the central policy issues in Myanmar?s move to a market economy since the end of the 1980s. Two liberalizations of rice marketing were implemented in 1987 and 2003. This paper examines the essential aspects of the liberalizations and the subsequent transformation of Myanmar?s rice marketing sector. It attempts to bring into clearer focus the rationale of the government?s rice marketing reforms which is to maintain a stable supply of rice at a low price to consumers. Under this rationale, however, the state rice marketing sector continued to lose efficiency while the private sector was allowed to develop on condition that it did not jeopardize the rationale of stable supply at low price. The paper concludes that the prospect for the future development of the private rice marketing sector is dim since a change in the rice market?s rationale is unlikely. Private rice exporting is unlikely to be permitted, while the domestic market is approaching the saturation point. Thus, there is little momentum for the private rice sector to undertake any substantial expansion of investment."... Keywords: Myanmar, rice, marketing system, liberalization
Creator/author: Ikuko Okamoto
Source/publisher: IDE Discussion Papaer No. 43
2005-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-07-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English (available also in Japanese - ?)
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Description: Consultancy Mission Report prepared for the Government of the Union of Myanmar by Jan Jansonius, FAO Consultant in Agricultural Market Information Service, Planning and Development (Lead Consultant) FAO. "Myanmar contains within its borders a wide range of agro-ecological zones. Rainfall varies from 5000 mm. in the Southern Coastal areas to about 800 mm. in the Central Dry Zone, altitude ranges from sea level to over 5000 meter and latitude from 10 to 29 degrees latitude. There is, consequently, a wide variety of crops, including rice, maize and wheat, many kinds of beans and peas, oilseeds, potato, onion and garlic, many types of temperate and tropical fruits and vegetables, spices and industrial crops like sugarcane, cotton, rubber, cashew and oil palm. Religion plays a very important role in life and in the economy, as large tracts of land are given over to pagodas, monasteries and meditation centers and flower cultivation (for temple offerings) occupies considerable agricultural land..." Bangkok, June 1999.
Creator/author: Jan Jansonius
Source/publisher: FAO
1999-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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