Over 20,000 rice, broken rice bags exported to China daily via Muse border

Myanmar daily exports over 20,000 bags of rice and broken rice to China through the Muse border trade camp, said U Min Thein, Vice-Chairman of the Muse Rice Wholesale Centre. Of them, there are only about 3,000 rice bags and the remaining are broken rice.
“In rice and broken rice export, the rice volume is low and the broken rice volume is high. There are between 20 and 25 rice and broken rice trucks, each weighing 50 tonnes that can accommodate 1,000 bags, daily. Among 25 trucks, 22 are broken rice trucks and only 3 are rice trucks,” he added.
Moreover, the rice and broken rice exports to China make profits for high Yuan prices, he continued.
Currently, it is 128 Yuan per 50-kilogramme broken rice bag and between 140 and 150 Yuan per 50-kilogramme rice bag.
On 30 June, Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee informed the merchants to make payment for rice, broken rice, bean, corn and oil crop exports to China via the Sino-Myanmar border trade point using the US dollar instead of the Yuan.
However, the rice and broken rice export is allowed to use Yuan in exporting to China via the Muse border, and the operation is running as usual.
On 14 December 2021, the Central Bank of Myanmar released a statement allowing the use of Yuan/Kyat in the bilateral transaction aiming to boost bilateral cross-border trade, facilitate the trading and bilateral transaction and increase the use of the domestic currency in line with the objectives of ASEAN Financial Integration.
However, it changed the methods of paying export incomes from farming products in dollars instead of Yuan and fixed the exchange rate of K2,100 per dollar.
Currently, it is K3,200 per dollar in the informal market, leading to a large gap in the exchange rate. It also has a large impact on the agricultural produce and export volumes drastically drop, traders said.
Myanmar daily conveys rice, broken rice, pulses, rubber, fishery products, foodstuffs, dried plum and chilli with 70 trucks to China. Meanwhile, building materials, electronic devices, fertilizers, equipment, food products and pharmaceuticals are brought into the country with around 30 trucks.
Although China imposed a lockdown for detecting new positive cases, the Kyinsankyawt trade camp on the China-Myanmar border is opened as usual. — NN/GNLM