Myanmar pockets over $1 bln from pulses exports over past ten months

Myanmar brought in over US$1.1 billion from various pulses exports over the past ten months of the current financial year 2022-2023, the Ministry of Commerce’s statistics indicated.
Between 1 April 2022 and 3 February 2023, the country shipped 1,252,818 tonnes of pulses worth $982.588 million to external markets by the sea while 181,268 tonnes of various pulses worth $128.38 million were sent to the neighbouring countries via cross-border posts, totalling over 1.4 million tonnes worth $1.11 billion.
Myanmar primarily exports black gram and pigeon pea to India and sends green gram to China and some European companies. There are more than 1.1 million acres of various pulses sowing every year in Myanmar and black gram and pigeon pea constitute 35 per cent of the overall acres.
The country primarily cultivates paddy, corn, cotton, sugarcane, various pulses and beans. Its second-largest production is pulses and beans, accounting for 33 per cent of agro-products and covering 20 per cent of growing acres. Among them, black beans, pigeon peas and green grams constitute 72 per cent of bean acreage. Other beans including peanuts, chickpeas, soybeans, black-eyed beans, butter beans and rice beans are also grown in the country. Myanmar’s agriculture sector is the backbone of the country’s economy and it contributes to over 30 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Myanmar conveyed US$1.57 million worth of over 2.02 million tonnes of various beans and pulses to foreign trade partners in the 2020-2021 FY. The country shipped $966.4 million valued at over 1.24 million tonnes of pulses and beans to foreign markets through sea route, and $604.3 million valued at over 786,920 tonnes were sent to the neighbouring countries through land borders, the MoC’s trade data showed.
Myanmar grows 18 types of pulses, covering 11.45 million acres across the country. The pulses constitute 26 per cent for black gram, 25 per cent for black gram, 15 per cent for pigeon pea, eight per cent for chickpea and the remaining for other pulses. — TWA/EM