Business News
· Myanmar Information and Computer Association (MICA) is planning to give short-term loans to the software projects in Burma, said the MICA Chairman.
· A big school of sharks are found in an underwater cave near Phila Island in Myeik Archipelago, where the Shambhala Company is building a hotel, said Mr. John Arbidans of EURASIA TRADE Ltd. About 80 sharks are occupying the underwater cave and the Company is planning to conduct environmental awareness education programs for the local people and how to earn tourist money from eco-tourism.
· The Ministry of Commerce is starting to allow barter trade system to construction iron bars importers, starting from the end of March. Export tax 10% must be deposited with the MFTB bank in advance, while applying for export and import licence simultaneously. The practice will able to help increase the turn over of trade, said I/E sources. The current export first/ import later system has been causing delays in the turn over of trade, and export earnings are stuck in the MFTB account for minimum 4 months and a maximum of 10 months. The new barter trade system allows import within 4 months from the license issue date and export within 3 months. There are perceptions among the I/E businesses that import first/export later practice will be applicable with this barter system. Thailand and Bangladesh, which have account trade agreement with Burma, are excluded from the barter system, said the ministry sources.
· Htoo Trading is planning to launch a domestic airline in joint venture with the Ministry of Transport for domestic flights, said an officer from Ministry of Transport. The new airline named Air Bagan will become the third domestic airline and will use ATR planes from France, said the officer.
· Salon festival, the sea gypsies’ festival organised by the Burmese ministry of tourism was a success, the U.S writer Ms Brenda Davidson Shaddox told Living Colour. Tourists who came to the festival through Rangoon entry port are less than the tourists who entered with border passes from Thailand’s Ranong border town, said a tour operator in Rangoon. 2005 Salon festival will be held in the same area, said an officer from Ministry of Tourism.
· Internationally recognised Professional ICT certificates will be able to obtain in Burma by entering the Online Exams. Australia based Thomson Prometric assigned Global Net Testing Centre as Burma’s first online exam centre to test 200 over Professional ICT Tests. Currently, there are only a few IT professionals in Burma who obtained internationally recognised certificates such as MCSA and MCSE, to train the students in Burma and those who obtained the international certificates are also leaving Burma to work abroad.
· A newly established company named Mudon Company has been assigned as the local agent for the 500 Thai fishing trawlers, which received permission to do fishing in Burma, said Thailand’s Trade Association. Mudon Company office is situated in the same address as the Business Information Group (BIG).
· 4 fresh graduates from SCCD (Summit Centre for Career Development), a private hotel and tourism training centre, were recently hired by Singapore’s Traders Hotel, said the centre officials. The centre starts operating in 2001, in collaboration with the Summit Parkview Hotel and the ministry of tourism.
· A Thai company has been granted the right to fish in Burma’s Exclusive Economic Zone under an agreement that is expected for the government to earn more than US$200 million during the next five years, a senior official from Ministry of livestock and fishery said. Siam Jonathan of Thailand becomes the first foreign company to be granted exclusive rights to fish in Burma waters since 1994. The agreement will allow 500 Thai fishing boats to operate in the Exclusive Economic Zone, which covers about 358,500 square kilometers. The zone covers the area beyond Burma’s territorial waters, which extend 12 miles from the coast.
· Myauk-Oo archaeological site in western Burma’s Rakkhine States needs more hotels, said a tour operator. The area, only with three hotels, becomes as popular as Bagan and there are accommodation problems in the tourist seasons.
· Toll collection license for 72 bridges under the ministry of construction and 10 bridges under the ministry of railways will be auctioned.
· Sports sector becomes the only sector, where alcoholic beverages can advertisement, said a market researcher. Alcoholic beverages are sponsoring sports events to advertise their products, said the researcher.
· Land prices in Ngwe Saung beach cost kyats 100 million for 3.85 acre of standard land plot and kyats 200 million for 11.55 acres of local high-class land plot. The plots will be sold to hotel entrepreneurs, who are planning to build new hotels in the beach resort.
· Rental rates for ground floor flats in proper Rangoon have increased due to higher demands from the teashops, food stalls and the restaurants. But restaurant owners in down town Rangoon said sales have declined and it is not easy to make profit these days.
· IEAT (Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand) announced that the construction works would start in 2006 for the industrial estates projects along the Thai-Burma border.
· Counterfeit and substandard medicinal drugs from India are entering Burma market.
· Gem mining concessions in Pharkant, Lone Kin and Nant Yar jade mining areas in northern Burma Kachin State, will be auctioned to local private companies. Only the local private companies, which can guarantee big capital investments, will be allowed for gems mining concessions in Burma.
· China gains trade surplus of US$ 730 millions in 2003 from bilateral trade between China and Burma, according to trade statistics from China. Trade between China and Burma amounted over US$ 1 billion and Burma exports US$ 170 million to China and import US$ 900 million from China in 2003, according to the statistics.
· Burma’s 41st gems and jewellery emporium in March was a success because the items on sales fetched more prices than the floor prices, said an official from Burma gems and jewellery enterprise. Gems miners in Burma said, the gem prices are getting higher in Burma due to higher production costs, such as diesel costs and other expenses. Over 1100 traders attended the 41st gems & jewellery emporium and mostly are from China. Chinese merchants mostly bought jade and Rubies and sapphires are mostly bought by Indian and European buyers, said the officials of the emporium.
· China is planning to assist Burma in establishing of 4 factories in southern Burma Myeik town. A glass factory, a cement factory, a pulp mill and a paper mill will be constructed in Myeik.
· Watermelons from Kyaukse in central Burma are fetching good prices in China, said a trader. The watermelons are grow with the technical assistance from China and production costs are the same to traditional Burmese water melons costs.
· Burmese government has stopped the leasing of state owned palm oil plantations. Previously, private companies named Po Kaung, Shwe Kamauk and Tet Ne leased the state owned palm oil plantations to produce industrial palm oil. Starting from this year, the ministry of industry 1 will take over the plantations, said the private companies.
· Yuzana Company is building an edible palm oil factory in Rangoon. The factory will cost US$ 7 million, and the factory will start operating in 2005 March.
· Ministry of Hotels & Tourism office has moved from down town Sule Pagoda Road to Thein Pyu Road in eastern Rangoon, in the same compound with Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Transport.
· Ministry of Industry 1 is building a pharmaceutical factory in Pyinmana in central Burma. Currently, there are 3 pharmaceutical factories in Burma and they are producing 248 kinds of pharmaceuticals.
· Ministry of Industry 1 is planning to build another newsprint paper mill near the big Thar Baung pulp and paper mill in Burma delta. China’s Tianjin Machinery I/E Co., from Tianjian, China, will participate in joint venture with the Burmese ministry. The project costs will be US$ 36.5 million and Burmese government will pay 10% in cash and the remaining 90% will be paid in pulp and paper. The new factory’s capacity is 18000 tons per year. The main Thar Baung pulp and paper mill will start operating in October 2004 and construction have completed 92% on the structure and 55% on machinery installation.
· Thailand to assist Burma on human resources development according to bilateral co-operation programmes. Thailand will train 208 trainees from 5 ministries on 18 projects in 2004.
· Tea plantation owners in northern Shan State were buying low quality rice from Mandalay in March, in preparation for tea picking season in March and April. In the tea leaves picking season, many labourers from lower Burma would travel to Shan State to pick tealeaves.
· Burma to participate in ASEAN-China Trade Fair, scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China, in November 2004.
· Burma’s archaeology department is planning to open a training centre in Pyay town in lower Burma, with the assistance from an Italy archaeology organization. The training centre will be the first of its kind in Burma.
· Internet café will be allowed to open in towns and cities all over Burma soon, said a MICTDC official. Since mid 2003, there are about 20 Internet café in Rangoon and Mandalay.
· The private hospitals and clinics in Rangoon, which do not observe garbage disposal rules and regulation imposed by YCDC, will face severe action, said an announcement from YCDC.
· State owned industrial crops plantations, such as rubber, palm oil and sugar cane plantations, operated by ministry of agriculture in southern Burma Thaninthayi Division, will be transferred to ministry of industry 1, said an official from ministry of agriculture.
· Ministry of Commerce is urging pulses and beans exporters to establish large-scale pulses and beans plantations. Minister for commerce told the exporters to grow and export high quality pulses and beans to get better prices in international markets. The minister also urged the exporter to reduce buying from local farmers, which could affect supply for local consumption and cause price hike in local markets. The minister said exporters with their own plantations will get export tax exemption and import licence privileges.
· Jet Gold Corporation and Leward Capital Corp. are starting to extract gold from Set Gadone gold mine in northern Shan State. The gold mine is located 200 km away from Lashio in northern Shan State and 90 km away from China border.
· HIV infection among drug users have decline in Burma, while infections through sex have increased, said a report in a health seminar held by Burma’s Medical Doctors Association. The use of condoms among sex workers still need to be promoted said the report. Government figures said there are 45968 HIV positive cases and 6727 AIDS cases in Burma.
· A laboratory to test animal feeds is in operation in Rangoon’s Tharketa township, said an official from ministry of livestock breeding and fisheries. The official was talking at a Small Scale Feed Manufacture Work Shop, held in March. R & D in animal feed are essential for Burma, said a professor from Veterinary Institute.
· The farmers in Burma’s Delta division require rodents’ eradication techniques, said a farmer in Nyaungdon Township. Due to global warming, there are more rodents, mosquitoes and flies are causing damages to the agriculture sectors and modern technologies are required to combat them, said an environmental observer in Burma.
· Forever Group to publish Myanmar Products and Trade Directory.
· The National International Commerce Enterprise (NICE) of Burma starts to export organic green tea to France, Singapore and Malaysia. The organic tea plantation is in the cease-fire special region 1 and grown since 1995 as an opium substitute crop.
· Sesame prices up due to the buying in Rangoon for export.
· The ministry of livestock and fishery is planning to conduct poultry counts throughout Burma, to be able to handle emergency situations such as bird flu.
· Genetically modified vegetables and fruits in Burma are losing their nutritious qualities, said an official from ministry of livestock and fishery. Burmese farmers are starting to grow the GM vegetables and fruits and there is the danger of a decline in nutritious qualities in vegetables and fruits, said the official. He said, there is an offer by Japan to import organic vegetables and fruits from Burma.
· Bilar insects (a kind of grasshopper) are being exported to China in big quantities. The Chinese are buying them as an ingredient for an exotic traditional medicine, which enhance sexual stamina.
· YCDC has been auctioning the licences to operate its game parks to the private companies every year and the Shukintha game park in Tharketa t/s in Rangoon fetched kyats 221 million this year. The game park operators said that the license should be issued for at least 3-5 years, because the maintenance and repair costs are high and they could not recover their license fees and other expenses within one year.
· Irrawaddy River faces increasing danger of silted banks, erosion and changes in waterways. A group of Japanese experts had surveyed the changing Irrawaddy in 2003, to help preserve the river in the future.
· Prices of Chinese motorcycles are declining in Burma, due to increasing supply.
· The U.S based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is planning to conserve the whales and dolphins in the Bay of Bengal, bordering Burma, India and Bangladesh.
· Burmese chicken feeds producers should unite to be able to compete with the foreign manufacturers said a partisan feeds producers. There are two foreign companies in Burma, monopolising the poultry feeds market. There are 22 smaller private feed mills in all over Burma with the capacity to produce 900 tons per day. Burma poultry feeds production is 260,000 tons per year, much lower than Thailand’s 6 million tons.
· The KIO’s 200 rooms Leiza Hotel, located in Leiza town bordering China and Burma in northeast Burma, is enjoying high occupancy rate, according to a traveller. The cease-fire KIO investment for the hotel was kyats 800 million and most of the guests are businessmen from China, who are regularly travelling to Leiza on timber and jade trades.
· Construction iron bars prices are up in Burma, due to the rise in international prices. As the real estate market is sluggish in Burma, the sales of iron bars for construction businesses are also very slow, said a market source.
· Burma’s poultry production was hit by the bird flu scare and many poultry farmers were greatly affected by the low chicken prices and many farmers still could not recover from the losses, said a vet. But the industry will revive in June or July, when the situations become normal, said the vet.
· Car prices continue to drop in Burma and expected to drop further to half of the previous highest prices, said a car broker.
· The forestry department is planning to set up the Pegu Mountain Range greening group with 1000 staffs soon. The central mountain range is facing deforestation due to illegal logging and excessive charcoal and firewood productions.
· Burma is the highest pulses & beans export among the ASEAN countries, said an agriculture official. 40% of export earnings are from pulses and beans exports, said the official.
· Fish farmers in Burma delta area are turning back to breed the natural wild fishes, which enter their fishponds naturally. Due to higher fishmeal costs and declining export market in breeding hybrid farm fishes, many fish farmers are turning back to the old traditional methods.
News Articles
· International Airlines such as Thai Airways (TG) and Myanmar Airways International (MAI) are trying to attract Burmese passengers with low cost tour packages, while the international tourist arrival is low.
· Burma plans natural gas to become top foreign exchange earner. Local natural gas requirements will be supplied only from the inland fields. Offshore productions will be reserved for exports. Burma’s natural gas reserves can last up to 157 years, according to estimations. The Yadana gas field can last up to 25 years and the field’s investors recovered their investments within 5 years after the production started.
· The Bacteria Leaching Bio Oxidation Process, the new gold extracting process which becomes popular in Burma recently, can become a threat to nature’s biodiversity because of the difficulties in controlling the bacteria from multiplying into unwanted bacteria.
· Video & CD rental shops in Burma are facing a decline in Business because of unstable electricity supply and the government’s regulations. The government regulated the rental shops to buy 200 Burmese movies a year and that has been a big burden for most of the rental shops, said the shop owners. Business has declined almost 90% and big rental shops, which usually rent 200 tapes a day previously could rent only 20 tapes a day now, said a shop owner.
· Burmese students planning to study abroad should prepare to face culture shock, said a BC officer in a seminar held in March at Grand Plaza Park Royal Hotel.
· Burmese movie industry declining due to higher production costs and declining returns on investment said a movie producer. The article wrote about movie industry in Burma.
· Article about Burma-India economic co-operations. (Referred from Web News)
· Burma & e-Government: the article wrote about IT applications in government departments.
· Soy beans market active with exports to China. Ground nuts prices stable and corn prices dropped because of the export ban. Edible oil prices stable with slow market. Onion prices declining because of good harvest this year. Most of the warehouses are overflowed with onions. Chilli prices declining. Potatoes prices are also declining because of the new crops are arriving into the market, but sales are brisk with the demands from the potato chips & snacks manufacturers.
· Rice prices declining in April because of the newly harvested summer paddy arrivals. This year’s summer paddy harvest is high, said the rice traders.
· Most of the agriculture produces’ prices are depending on export market and if there were any export ban for the produces, the prices of the produces would drop significantly. The productions of rice, chilli and onions are increasing yearly in Burma, but the unstable trade policies have been causing losses for the farmers and the traders, said the businessmen in the wholesale market.
· The Changing Irrawaddy River: The article about the importance of Irrawaddy River for Burma’s lowland economy, the characteristics of the river, how the Irrawaddy River have changed with time. The article warns on how the river becomes shallower and is facing the danger of diminishing slowly. Some information on the socio-economic conditions along the river. The article warns and urges about preserving the river from vanishing.
· Arts and paintings market in Burma: the articles about Burma’s art galleries and paintings market.
· Tourism promotion and natural beauties of Myeik archipelago: The article wrote about tourist attractions in the Myeik archipelago and the potentials to promote the area as a new tourist destination. Recommendations for changes to upgrade the area as a tourist destination.
· The potential of Burmese economy: An article on macroeconomics of Burma. The potentials in agriculture sector were highlighted.
· Public transportation in Rangoon: The article highlights about the importance of Rangoon’s circular railways.
· Article about population growth in Burma.
· An interview with the UNAIDS Country Coordinator Mr. Samonn Murphy and National Consultant Dr. Sid Naing. The theme “ Burma should get more funds like the other countries in the region.”
Other articles on business and economics not related to Burma’s economy