AN Export Promotion Information Centre established by the Ministry of Commerce in Taungoo, Bago Division, has had a tough time achieving its goal of encouraging local merchants to export their products, said an official from the centre.

The official said few people in the area have shown interest in exporting their products because they lack knowledge about international markets, have no access to the internet and lack the capital to establish export businesses.

“Our aim is to share information and knowledge about exporting products with local entrepreneurs but very few people have shown interest,” he said.

“People in the area mostly sell their product to Yangon but they could get greater profits if they looked into direct exports,” said U Htein Lin, the assistant manager of Myanmar Agricultural Product Trading in Taungoo.

The centre provides free information on how to apply for permission to export products, prepare contracts and ship goods.

“We explain to people that their products can be sold directly to overseas customers through the internet but many of them have no internet access and some people from remote areas don’t even know what the internet is,” the official at the centre said.

Taungoo township has only one privately owned internet café.
“Occasionally we get people from area villages coming in and asking what they have to do to export their traditional medicine products but they can’t afford to establish an export company,” the official said.

The Ministry of Commerce established information centres in towns throughout Myanmar about three years ago to encourage exports of local products.

Deputy Minister of Commerce Brigadier General Aung Tun in August encouraged merchants in Bago Division to establish companies that would allow them to export their products directly without relying on third parties based in Yangon.