YGEA, one Japanese company under negotiation for gold export

Officials of the Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association (YGEA) engaged in negotiations with counterparts from a Japanese company for Myanmar’s gold items to be placed in Japanese markets, according to the meeting held at YGEA on 15 February.
U Myo Myint, chair of YGEA elaborated that matters regarding exporting procedures to Japan were discussed at the meeting.
“We inquired about the export procedures of gold items to Japan. We delivered our gold items to Japan before the pandemic. The gold export started in the 2018-2019 Financial Year and it abruptly stopped amid the COVID-19 negative consequences. We have the plan to resume export activity once they order them. They asked for trading licence conditions, banking operations such as Telegraphic Transfer (TT) and Letter of Credit (LC), transport conditions and customs procedures and the COVID regulations”, U Myo Myint said.
So far, gold export has been suspended, he added.
However, we are making ready for gold exports.
As per the notification released by the Ministry of Commerce on 12 August 2020, transactions for gold export and import were able to be done only with the LC system earlier.
Myanmar is placed on the Grey List by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body that sets anti-money laundering standards. Therefore, the country needs to monitor the gold and jewellery exports and imports in order to ensure there is no illegal income. As per the notification released by the Trade Department, the payment method was changed to LC.
The payment using LC can take about two months, cost banking service charges on both sides, and increase the charges for security matters in transport. Consequently, gold trading in the international market has also stalled due to volatile prices. As a result of this, more than 10,000 local goldsmiths were unemployed.
The YGEA submitted a request for the resumption of the TT system to the Central Bank of Myanmar in early July 2021. From 20 December 2021, the TT system has been allowed for gold exports worth below US$50,000 and the LC system needs to be used for exports worth above $50,000,
Gold and other jewellery items are primarily purchased by Japan and the Republic of Korea, and other tourists also buy them, the YGEA stated. — NN/EM