Muse border market sees a dip in rice export price

The prices of rice and broken rice exported to China via the Muse land border are falling, said Vice-Chair U Min Thein of the Muse Rice Wholesale Centre.
In early April, the broken rice fetched 120 Yuan per bag. The low-quality rice was priced 137-142 Yuan per bag depending on varieties (Ngasein, Thukha and Shintong). Over one month later, the price dipped to 117 Yuan for broken rice and 128-137 Yuan for other rice varieties in May, according to Muse Rice Wholesale Centre. China Customs granted licences to 47 Myanmar companies on 26 February 2021 to legally export the rice to China through Muse land border this year,
The authorized companies for rice export to China increased this year as against last year. However, the permitted volume of rice for exports has not been confirmed yet, he added.
Myanmar traders are delivering rice to China through the Muse border under new permits at present. Nevertheless, limited money withdrawal permitted by the private banks is disrupting the rice exports.
Myanmar shipped more than 720,000 tonnes of rice and broken rice to foreign countries over Q1 (1 October and 15 January) of the current financial year 2020-2021 and earned over US$275 million, Myanmar Rice Federation stated.
The border trade handled over 308,000 tonnes of rice, while maritime trade covered over 418,000 tonnes in Q1.
This year, Myanmar has shipped rice to 31 foreign markets so far. China is the leading buyer of Myanmar rice (with 340,000 tonnes), followed by the Philippines (36,000 tonnes) and Poland (14,000).
Meanwhile, Myanmar exported broken rice mainly to China (210,000 tonnes), followed by Belgium (46,000 tonnes) and Thailand (6,300 tonnes). Broken rice was placed in 16 foreign markets. Weather changes affected irrigation water resource availability in agriculture. Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) Chair U Ye Min Aung said that as a result, Myanmar set rice export target at only 2 million tonnes in the current FY as summer paddy growing acreage drops.
Myanmar generated over $800 million from rice exports in the previous FY2019-2020 ended 30 September, with an estimated export volume of over 2.5 million tonnes. — NN/GNLM