Alibaba.com: Military-ruled Myanmar, once the world's biggest rice exporter, is taking steps to revive the sector after years of mismanagement and could become a top exporter again in a few years, officials and traders said.
Under British colonial rule, the former Burma shipped 3.4 million tonnes in 1934, its best year.
The government helped set up the Myanmar Rice Industry Association this year through a merger of rice associations and a think tank grouping economists and technocrats, while handicaps such as as poor port facilities are being tackled. [ID:nSGE61A0E2]
"Problems relating to mismanagement and other obstacles will be reduced very soon and we could see Myanmar as one of the world's top 10 rice exporters in a few years," said Prachuab Supinee, a Thai trade diplomat in Yangon.
It won't be plain sailing, and local operators are worried about immediate prospects, with exports suffering this year from delays in the issuing of export licences and a lack of government incentives for farmers to grow more rice.Read the full story.
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