A saleswoman for beans and pulses distributor Kalay Myo measures a quantity of matpe at the company's outlet at the Bayintnaung commodities trading centre, Yangon, March 1.

EXPORTERS of beans and pulses are planning to establish a public company to more effectively penetrate the world market, an official from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said February 25.

UMFCCI general secretary U Sein Win Hlaing said the prospective public company would be set up under the name “Golden Land East Asia Development Ltd” and would group companies of beans, pulses and sesame, related entrepreneurs and traders.

Speaking at the 14th annual meeting of the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants’ Association, U Sein Win Hlaing also noted that exports of beans and pulses have bounced back in the current 2006-07 financial year after dipping the previous year.

Myanmar had exported 900,000 tonnes of beans and pulses up to January of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, he said.

This marked an increase from 760,000 tonnes in 2005-06 and signals a rise over the 2004-05 total of 900,000 tonnes.

“During the 2006-07 fiscal year, which has not yet ended, exports increased to 0.9 million tonnes,” U Sein Win Hlaing said.

Myanmar exported 1.2 million tonnes in 2003-04 and 800,000 tonnes in 2001-02.

U Sein Win Hlaing said that Myanmar producers were spared much of the bad weather that afflicted crops in South Asian countries during 2006 and pushed prices up about 94 percent.

“Luckily, most of the growing areas of beans and pulses in Myanmar did not suffering from this unusual weather and traders in the country could take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

Matpe exports had fetched up to US$700 a tonne in the current financial year, up from US$360-400 a tonne in 2005-06.

The commerce minister, Brigadier General Tin Naing Thein, called on producers at the meeting to raise quality and output.

“Myanmar has exported an average of about one million tonnes of pulses and beans annually and is the second biggest exporter of pulses and beans in the world behind Canada. With this good tradition, exporters should expand the export market by enhancing the quality of beans and pulses,” he said.

U Sein Win Hlaing backed the minister’s call for higher quality exports, noting that former-customer Japan had turned to Chinese crops.

“The quality of beans and pulses from Myanmar is below international standards and we need to try harder if we want to penetrate quality markets like Japan and Europe,” he said.

India is currently the main buyer of Myanmar beans and pulses.

U Tun Aung, chairman of the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants’ Association, told The Myanmar Times that Myanmar should focus on using its beans and pulses to export value-added products, which he said was a more profitable approach.

“The process of producing value-added beans and pulses includes husking and splitting. But, for this, the quality of beans and pulses is very important and we need to improve the quality of our local produce,” he said.

Growing larger beans and pulses was another important challenge, he added.
In 2005-06, less than 2pc of Myanmar’s beans exports were in the form of value added goods.