A farmer ploughs a field at Amarapura township in Mandalay Division, near the country's main cattle-rearing region in central Myanmar. The Myanmar Livestock Federation is hoping to start live cattle exports to Malaysia from Myeik in the southern Tanintharyi Division, where the site of quarantine zone is to be chosen this month.

THE Myanmar Livestock Federation is hoping to start live cattle exports to Malaysia in the near future, a senior official from the federation said.

MLF vice president U Win Sein said discussions were underway with a Malaysian state-owned enterprise to start cattle exports from Myeik in Tanintharyi Division.

No date has been set to begin shipping cattle to Malaysia, which is so far the only likely buyer, but the plan could be implemented at short notice, U Win Sein said during a weekly Myanmar Fishery Federation (MFF) meeting in Yangon.

“We will go to Myeik in June and choose an appropriate site to build a quarantine zone for exports.

“If we can implement the project successfully, our foreign currency earnings could rise dramatically,” he said, adding that the federation would work closely with regional authorities throughout the process.

The government is yet to approve live cattle exports, however.

Despite this, U Win Sein said Malaysian officials had already visited Myanmar several times to inspect potential sites for a quarantine zone. They chose Myeik because the surrounding region was free from diseases that afflict cattle, such as foot and mouth, he said.

The MLF has been charged with earning US$25 million from exports in the 2007-08 financial year, part of the $750-million target issued to the Myanmar Fisheries Federation, which oversees the MLF.

Should the plan proceed, it will mark the country’s first live cattle exports. Currently only hides of cows, buffalos and goats are exported.

To help the federation fulfil its assigned trade target, U Win Sein said the MLF plans to expand hide exports and raise prices for foreign buyers.

“There are 16 entrepreneurs currently exporting hides. We recently finished discussions with 11 of those businesses to expand exports,” U Win Sein said. “They said they can double their current volume.

“Currently, one tonne of cow hide costs $660 and a tonne of goat hide is $450. This is a little low. We will increase the price to $700 for cow hide and $500 for goat hide,” he said.

U Win Sein did not give an estimate of how many live cattle or how much hide Myanmar would export this financial year, which ends March 31, 2008.
Most of the MLF’s export earnings currently come from salted hides.