MYANMAR Ceramic Society and Myanmar Industrial Development Bank will issue loans at the end of July to rebuild the Twante pottery industry, said Dr Myo Thant Tin, the society’s chairman last week.

“We will be issue these loans at the end of July and have set a 2 percent interest rate, which is the same as the government rate.

“The 20 businessmen who owned and ran the pottery industry, which was destroyed by Cyclone Nargis, will be able to restart their businesses as soon as they receive these loans,” he said.

He added that the society had extensively surveyed the damage to the industry before announcing the loans. The term of the loans will be 1.5 years and repayments will be expected every six months. Loans will be determined by the size and worth of the former enterprise; one property must be put up as collateral for every loan, he said.

Overall, Dr Myo Thant Tin said about 50 small and medium enterprises were destroyed by the storm. He added that the largest loan will be about K50 million and the smallest only K2 million.

“Our organisation will support give out K300 million in loans and the Myanmar Industry Development Bank has said it will make another K300 million available.

“But businessmen trying to secure loans from the bank must make a deposit first, and the bank will not cover the full amount the businesses need to rebuild. The bank will only cover loans needed to rebuild the actual property and the society will supply the remainder of the loan.

“We plan to hand out all of that K300 million,” he said.

Dutch NGO, Oxfam Novip, is helping to fund the society’s loans program.

“Our association received a K300-millon donation from Oxfam Novip in June to rebuild Twante’s pottery industry, which is the biggest in Myanmar,” he said.

However, not all the money from Oxfam Novip will be dispersed in loans, some has been set aside for development plans, which at the moment are centred on the Japanese market.

“Japanese people seem to like pottery from Myanmar and we’re trying to export more and more to that country. As soon as these loans are distributed and the industry is back up and running we will try to further cultivate the Japanese market.

“The Twante region's furnaces were nearly all destroyed by Nargis but the skill of those workers remains. If we can get them working again we can help to retain the industry’s heritage.”