Myanmar Market Survey

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MYANMAR

Market Survey

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Table of content

1. Introduction                                                                         p.1
2. Information sheet of the country                                        p.2
3. Market access                                                                p.3
4. Food Industry                                                                p.4-5
5. Distribution                                                                        p.5
6. Conclusion                                                                        p.6
7. Sources                                                                                p.7
8. Contacts                                                                        p.8-22
9. Contacts Sources                                                                p.23

Introduction

Myanmar is a Southeast Asian country with the bordering countries of China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Laos. It is located along the Indian and Eurasian Plates, southeast of the Himalayas. To its west is the Bay of Bengal and to its south is the Andaman Sea. It is advantageously located near the major Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

Before becoming an independent kingdom, Myanmar was annexed into the colony of India in 1886 by the British Empire. This occupation by the British Empire brought social, economic, cultural and administrative changes. In WWII Myanmar was invaded and occupied by the Japanese Empire, however the British took control back until the country’s independence in 1948.

Myanmar was ruled from 1962 to 2011 by their military dictatorship who changed its name in 1989. Some national governments and much of the population of Myanmar do not recognize the name change which used to be Burma.

In 1990 the country had an election, however the military dictatorship refused to hand over its power to the key opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG San Suu Kyi but put her under house arrest from 1989 to 2000.

Although in 2011 the military dictatorship was dissolved after a general election in 2010. A civilian government was finally able to be implemented. This change gave the country the ability to improve its economy, it also gave the country the ability to open its borders and get rid of certain economic sanctions imposed by several other countries.

Foreign investments went from 300 million US$ in 2009 to 20 billion US$ in 2011, because of the new reforms which included anti-corruption, currency exchange rate, foreign investment laws and taxation.

Information sheet of the country        

• Official Name: Republic of the Union of Myanmar
• President: Win Myint since March 2018
• Capital: Naypyidaw became the capital in 2006 (924,608 in 2017)
• Biggest City: Yangon (Previous name Rangoon) (5,124,000 people in 2017)
• Total Population: 52 873 207 habitants (2017)
• Urban Population: 36.8 % of the population is urban (19,810,930 in 2018)
• Density: 82 per Km2 (31.7 people per mi2 in 2016)
• Land: 653,290 Km2 (252,237 sq. miles)
• GDP: 67,430 Billion $USD (2016) #73
• Money: Burmese kyat (MMK)
• National Holiday: 4 January (Independence Day of 1948)
• Official Language: Burmese
• Other Spoken Languages: Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon, Rakhine
• Religion: Buddhism (87.9%), Christianity (6.2%), Islam (4.3%) (2014)
• Border Countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Thailand

Market Access

        Myanmar is part of the founding members of the WTO and since 1997 it has been a member of ASEAN, with current component agreements on goods, services and investment. Half of Myanmar’s overall trading volume are accounted by its trade with other ASEAN member countries. Thanks to its membership with ASEAN, Myanmar had the opportunity to participate in ASEAN’s preferential agreements with a group of countries containing, Australia and New Zealand, china, India, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, Myanmar has signed four of understanding on establishing bilateral joint trade commissions, with its neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Since 2011, to increase its competitivity and attractivity of its country to foreign investors, the government of Myanmar has executed several policies, including improving support services, lowering export taxes, easing restrictions on the financial sectors, and many more. An advantage that least developed country beneficiate from are the special and differential treatment provisions and technical support accessible to LDCs. Myanmar also beneficiates from the Global System of Trade Preferences which is given to developing countries, such as the Greater Mekong program which Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and China are part of. There are also several GSP schemes granted by Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, the USA, Belarus, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, and Turkey.

        For companies to either export or import goods from Myanmar, a company must register itself with the DICA. After being registered with the DICA, a company must then register themselves with Myanmar’s Department of Trade.  All exporters and importers are also required to join the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The tariffs on imported goods in Myanmar can range from 0 to 40%. For agricultural imports the tariffs average at 8.7% and for non-agricultural goods they average at 5.1%.

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