Myanmar, Bangladesh to promote direct trade through Arakan State

21 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
21 July 2022, Sittwe 

Myanmar earned US$2.9 million in June from exports to Bangladesh through two border trade camps in Arakan State, according to the state’s chamber of commerce and industry. 

Exports were made via the Shwe Mingan border trade camp in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, and at Kanyin Chaung border trade camp in Maungdaw Township. Imports through those camps in June, however, only totaled US$6,960. 

The trade surplus is due partly to the fact that Bangladeshi products enjoy little popularity in Arakan State, said Ko Aung Aung, secretary of the Sittwe border trade camp. 

“Imports have always been low. People here don’t like products from Bangladesh. Only clothes and some household goods are sometimes imported,” he told DMG. 

High shipping costs are also a factor that discourages Bangladeshi traders from making exports to Arakan, he said. 

“In Bangladesh, products are manufactured in Chittagong. So, the cost is high to transport products from there to the border and then into Arakan State,” Ko Aung Aung added. “For example, cement imported from there can’t compete with cement domestically produced or imported from other countries. Products imported from Bangladesh do not have a market in Arakan State.” 

On June 17, the Bangladeshi ambassador to Myanmar visited Arakan State, during which he met with local traders and the Arakan State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and discussed the potential for direct trade. 

The ambassador and local traders also visited the site of a new jetty built by the India government in Sittwe to promote direct trade.