Myanmar foreign trade tops $7.23 bln in half of mini-budget period

MYANMAR’s external trade in the first half of the six-month mini-budget 2021-2022 (October-March) period sank to US$7.23 billion, which shows a drastic drop of $693 million as against the year-ago period, the Ministry of Commerce’s data showed.
The international trade stood at over $7.93 billion in the corresponding period of the financial year 2020-2021, according to data released by the ministry.
During October-December 2021 period, Myanmar’s export was worth over $3.7 billion whereas, the country’s import was relatively low at $3.53 billion.
The border trade dropped owing to the closure of the border post by the main trade partner China amid the coronavirus impacts. However, the maritime trade was registered a significant increase of $369.6 million.
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 the 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