MYANMAR traders signed sales contracts worth a total of US$290 million with Chinese entrepreneurs during the Greater Mekong Subregion Business Forum, which was held on the sidelines of the GMS Summit in Kunming, China, from July 3 to 4.

The contracts were made after the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), and the Yunnan Chambers of Commerce and Industry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pledging further economic cooperation.

“We originally aimed to sign contracts worth $80 million, so the $290 million contracts we signed were more than we expected,” said U Tun Aung, the joint secretary general (2) of the UMFCCI.

Under the agreements, traders in China’s Yunnan Province, of which Kunming is the capital, will buy beans and pulses worth more than US$100 million, marine products worth more than $100 million, and timber worth more than $20 million from Myanmar.

U Tun Aung said that UMFCCI had already signed an MOU with the national-level China Chamber of Commerce but that this was the first time it did so with a chamber of commerce from a specific province in China.

“This is our first MOU with Yunnan Province – the area accounts for more than 50 per cent of the bilateral trade volume between Myanmar and China,” he said.

About 25 entrepreneurs from Myanmar’s fisheries sector inked deals worth more than $100 million with Chinese business people in Kunming on July 4.
“Before going to Kunming we had expected to sign deals worth about $60 million,” said U Soe Htun Shein, the chairman of the Myanmar Fishery Products Processors and Exporters Association, in a telephone interview with the Myanmar Times.

U Khin Ko Lay, a director of the Department of Fisheries, said the contracts called for Myanmar to export fish meal, chilled fish and shrimp, and live eel and crab to China.

Figures from the Department of Fisheries show that 106,630 tonnes of fisheries products worth $112.3 million were exported to China in the 2004-2005 fiscal year ending March 31. About 72 per cent of all fisheries exports last year occurred through border trade with China.

The minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Brigadier-General Maung Maung Thein, last week urged fisheries entrepreneurs to find more regular buyers and to cooperate to normalise market prices.

He was speaking on July 12 at a weekly fisheries discussion held at the headquarters of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation, located on Bayintnaung Road in Insein township.

He said 48 fisheries products are included in the total of 120 products for which China has provided tax exemptions to Myanmar.

Brigadier-General Maung Maung Thein said that in 2004-2005 exports from the livestock and fisheries sector brought in $400 million, with $347 million coming from the fisheries sector alone.

He said the ministry aims to make about $500 million through exports in the current fiscal year.

U Tun Aung said that although all the goods traded as a result of the contracts will be exported via border trade, proposals were made at the business forum for business people in Yunnan Province to make the transition from border trade to normal trade procedures, which would benefit Myanmar.

“The Greater Mekong Subregion Business Forum has helped the Myanmar business sector in many ways, especially in trade because two GMS countries – Thailand and China – are major trading partners with Myanmar,” said U Tun Aung.

Other member countries include Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The Myanmar delegation to Yunnan included 46 business people, 23 of whom were members of the UMFCCI.