First-of-its-kind rice shipment exported from Arakan State directly to Bangladesh 

12 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
12 January 2023, Sittwe

A total of 2,500 tonnes of rice from Arakan State was directly exported to Chittagong, Bangladesh, for the first time on January 9, according to the junta-controlled Myanmar Alinn newspaper.

The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a sales contract on rice exports in September, agreeing to export 200,000 tonnes of Myanmar rice to Bangladesh in December.

According to the Arakan State Rice Millers Association, 200,000 tonnes of rice are being purchased from regions and states under a quota system organised by the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF), and the Arakan State Rice Millers Association has decided to sell 2,500 tonnes of rice to the federation.

“Only in this way, if rice is allowed to continue to be exported to Bangladesh, will it be beneficial for the farmers,” said U Maung Htwee, a farmer from Apaukwa Village in Kyauktaw Township. “Local farmers in Arakan State will add inputs to produce paddy. Local farmers will be more interested in growing paddy. Young people will no longer be interested in going to work abroad if the price of the rice they produce is good.”

“It is a great pleasure to be able to directly export the rice grown in Arakan State to a foreign country,” said  U Aung Kyaw Mya, a farmer from Pyaungseik Village, Kyauktaw Township. “Since we can directly export rice from Arakan State to Bangladesh, I think it is a sign of good prices for rice products,” he said.

He added that this year, the tide rose in Pauktaw, Myebon and Taungup townships and rice plants died off due to seasonal changes and Cyclone Sitrang, and rice yields have decreased compared with previous years, so there is a need to be careful about domestic food security.

In the past, broken rice contained 25 percent of the rice exported from Arakan State, but now, due to advancements in equipment and technology, the broken rice content has been reduced to only 5 percent.

U Khin Maung Gyi, a local businessman in Arakan State, said that in the past, rice production rates in Arakan State exceeded local demand, but because the existing rice surplus is currently decreasing, there may be problems with rice price increases in the future.

“This year, farmers have been hit hard by climate change. Therefore, I think the surplus of rice in Arakan State will be reduced to less than 100,000 tonnes of rice,” he said. “Right now, only 2,500 tonnes of rice are exported from Arakan State to Bangladesh, so it can be said that the surplus of rice will not be affected much. However, due to the export of rice abroad, I predict that there will be an increase in the price of rice in the coming months.”

In order to ensure domestic self-sufficiency in terms of rice production, farmers in Arakan State are being encouraged to cultivate summer paddy as well.

Myanmar’s minister of commerce and the minister of food for Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding on rice trade between the two countries in 2017.