Agri exports set to earn dollars; rice exports allowed to proceed with Yuan

Financial transactions of agricultural exports are instructed to be made only in US dollars, yet rice and broken rice exports are excluded from this directive at present and Yuan payment is available as before, U Min Thein, vice-chair of the Muse Rice Wholesale Centre.
Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee notified the traders of the dollar payment for agricultural exports such as rice, corn, oil crops, beans and pulses.
“Transactions for exports through Sino-Myanmar border posts are converted from Yuan to US dollar, according to a directive dated 30 June. This action is effective on the other exports (rubber, onion, commodities and fisheries). Nonetheless, rice and broken rice exports are proceeding with Yuan at present,” U Min Thein elaborated.
Starting from 4 July, export earnings for commodities except for rice and broken rice are paid in dollars.
On 14 December 2021, the Central Bank of Myanmar released a notification that the use of Yuan or Kyat in the bilateral transaction was officially allowed in the border areas between Myanmar and China to boost the bilateral cross-border trade, facilitate the trading and bilateral transaction, increase the use of domestic currency, in accordance with the objectives of the ASEAN Financial Integration.
After export earnings were earlier set to be paid in dollars instead of Yuan, the official exchange rate against the US dollar was set at K1,850.
At present, the dollar was valued at over K2,000 in the unofficial FX market, indicating a large gap in the currency exchange rate. This being so, we will observe the impacts on the agricultural products from this action, traders said.
Myanmar daily conveys approximately 10,000 bags of rice and broken rice to China through the Muse border. Other beans and pulses, rubber, food commodities, marine products and mango are also delivered to China. — NN/GNLM