THE Myanmar Rice Millers Association has called on millers operating in remote areas without licences to register with authorities before the association begins compiling a list of unauthorised rice mills next month.

MRMA president U Tin Win said the majority of hullers – that is, rice mills processing less than 15 tonnes a day – in rural and border regions have already been informed of the need to ensure they have the necessary paperwork.

“Next month, the association will be making a list of rice mills that have not registered with the association or the ministries concerned,” U Tin Win said.
To legally operate a rice mill in Myanmar, owners must register with Myanma Agriculture Produce Trading (MAPT) and the Ministry of Industry (1) before they can get the required licence.

U Than Aung Kyaw, a director at the Directorate of Trade, said many rice millers in Myanmar were not licensed. This made it difficult to obtain accurate data on the country’s total rice production, he added.

“One of the main reasons why millers in remote areas have not registered with the MAPT is that they want to evade government taxes,” an official from the MAPT said on condition of anonymity.

Last month, Commerce Minister Brigadier General Tin Naing Thein said the government placed a high priority on compiling detailed rice production figures.
“For the country, obtaining data of actual rice production is more important than earning tax,” he said at the MRMA’s annual general meeting.

U Tin Win said most of the country’s larger mills were already registered and it now remained for smaller operators to register their operations and report their production each month to MAPT.

He alleged that a significant number of unregistered hullers withheld rice from the market in the hope of pushing up prices. However, without detailed production data, it is difficult to know how widespread the practice is.
More than 19,000 mills are registered with the MAPT.