Myanmar foreign trade tops $11.95 bln as of 18 February 2022

MYANMAR’s external trade as of 18 February in the current six-month mini-budget 2021-2022 (Oct-March) financial year period slid to US$11.95 billion, which shows a drastic drop of $765.9 million as against the year-ago period, the Ministry of Commerce’s data showed.
The international trade stood at over $12.72 billion in the corresponding period of last FY 2020-2021, according to the data released by the ministry.
Between 1 October 2021 and 18 February 2022, Myanmar’s export was worth over $6.1 billion whereas, the country’s import was relatively low at $5.85 billion.
The border trade drastically fell by $1.9 billion as against the year-ago period owing to the closure of some border posts by the main trade partner China. However, the maritime trade was registered a significant increase of US$1.15 billion.
Myanmar exports agricultural products, animal products, minerals, forest products, and finished industrial goods while it imports capital goods, raw industrial materials, and consumer goods.
The country’s export sector relies more on the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
The Ministry of Commerce is focusing on reducing trade deficit, export promotion, import substitution and market diversification.
The external trade stood at $29.58 billion in the 2020-2021 FY, as per the Commerce Ministry’s statistics.—KK/GNLM