June 29, 2020

Myanmar Ministry of Commerce to support banks providing loans to Myanmar corn farmers

U Min Khang, chairman of the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association said an agreement was made with the Ministry of Commerce for the latter to help provide government loans or connections to banks in order to expand corn plantations, the Myanmar Times reported.

According to 2019 data, there are 1.9 million acres of corn plantations in Myanmar with 3 million tonnes of corn yield annually.

Less than half is allocated for domestic consumption, with the remainder exported mostly to Thailand. Myanmar is the second biggest corn exporter in Southeast Asia.

Demand for Myanmar corn as industrial and livestock feed and has gone up, especially from Thailand since the beginning of the 2019 / 2020 fiscal year.

Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce said 1.8 million tonnes of corn has already been exported in 2020, a million tonnes higher compared to last year. 60% of these corn exports were to Thailand.

In early-June, the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association announced its intention to become a private company by July to focus on the development and expansion of Myanmar's corn industry. The association aims to become a public company by 2022.

U Min Khaing said the company will establish a board of directors to ensure price stability and conduct corn industry market research.

The current corn trading price is MMK 590 (~US$0.43; MMK 100 = US$0.072) per viss, higher than the MMK 550 (~US$0.40) per viss in 2019 even though there's a COVID-19 pandemic. The association said corn production costs are between MMK 300,000 (~US$216.40) to MMK 400,000 (~US$288.53) per acre.

-      Myanmar Times