MYANMAR

An Investors Heaven

ABDC Asia Consultants LLP, India

MYANMAR - ONE OF THE HOTTEST INVESTMENT LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD TODAY! Myanmar is a truly fascinating place – you will not find

another like it anywhere else! From its gorgeous beaches, fertile river valleys, to its

stunning mountains, Burma is blessed with a great deal of natural and agricultural resources. 

Some might remember that some 50 year ago, Myanmar was one of the wealthiest counties in Asia, with booming agriculture and democratic government. The following “road to Burmese socialism” has been a disaster and has transformed Burma to one of the poorest countries in the world.

Today, the world investment community is seeing very encouraging signs that Myanmar is starting to change and open up to the world. As Burma is embracing on freedom, the investment opportunities there have fascinated the world as many experts compare Myanmar to China during the late 20th century when it first undertook its economic revival.

STRATEGIC LOCATION OF MYANMAR

strategically located between China, India, Thailand, Laos & Bangladesh.

Myanmar is both ground for competition and cooperation between the nations.

China, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are Myanmar’s largest contributors of FDI.

FACTS ON MYANMAR LOCATION South East Asia  Total Area of the Country            261228 Sq. miles International boundary            3640 miles Coast Line                                1760 miles Total Land Area                         197.19 mn acres Capital                                     Nay Pyi Taw Population                                56.52 million Working-age population             33.41 million

Language                                 Myanmar is the official language. English is widely                                              used all over the country.

Religion                                   Majority are Buddhist and there are Islam, Christianity,

Hinduism & others Major Economic Sectors            Agriculture, Manufacturing, Mining,

Oil and Gas,                                              Trade and Services.

Major Industries                        Agro-based industries, Wood-based industries,                                              Textiles industries, Heavy industries, Steel mills, 

MYANMAR – A SNAPSHOT 

Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia, borders India, Bangladesh, Thailand, China & Laos, serving as a crucial trading hub for the region.

  This country with a thriving population of more than 60 million people & new

government is making reforms.  First year of new government has made political reform and then are being

made economical momentarily reform in second year.   Therefore the country is ripe for investment & exponential economic growth

within the next decade as the country has opened their doors to the overseas investors & business houses for the better utilization of the available resources of the country.

Myanmar is a country rich in natural resources such as precious gems, priceless jade, natural gas, petroleum, copper, nickel, tin, gold, silver, zinc, & a host of other raw materials. Myanmar is also rich in terms of agriculture and fishery resources and has a high volume of annual exports from these two industries.

  Myanmar is also importing various commodities, engineering goods, edible oils,

consumables, crude, coal & project related equipments & machineries. These import volumes are increasing and expected to increase manifold in near future because of various upcoming infrastructure projects and development plans of Govt. of Myanmar.

TEA PLANTATION IN MYANMAR

Tea is grown in different states of Myanmar. The total tea grown

area is around 70,000 hectares with

an annual production of 78 million Kg 

green leaves. The best quality And

major cultivation are in Northern Shan

State. More than a half of the total output is from Namhsan area,

a mountainous region with deep, well drained, red acid soil ph

4.5-6.0 and the altitude ranges from 1200 m to 1800 m above

sea level, with an annual rainfall of 1000 mm to 1600mm.

LEGEND OF MYANMAR TEA

Myanmar people believed that tea growing was first initiated and introduced during Bagan era. Legend has it that King Alaung Sithu, (AD1113-1167) on his majestic royal tour to Namhsan, a small town in Northern Shan State, presented some tea seeds to the Local Palaung people in that area. From Then onwards, tea growing increases rapidly and flourishes throughout Myanmar in areas with favorable climatic

condition.

TEA CULTURE IN MYANMAR…

Tea plays a strong role in the culture and daily life of Myanmar people. Here in Myanmar it is customarily to serve traditional green tea and pickled tea, a unique Myanmar tea available only in Myanmar, in Royal ceremonies during the periods of Myanmar Kings and until now in major social ceremonies. Black tea consumption also has increased significantly nowadays. Among the top tea growing places in Shan State are : Namkham, Kutkai, Mong Hsu, Namhsan, Kyaukme, Kalaw, Yatsouth and Mong Tone Township

The most of the farmers are from the Palaung ethnic group.

These farmers faced economic hardships because of many reasons :

Majority of tea cultivators & farmers faced the economic hardship between 2002 to mid of 2011, due to the decline in tea production & because of the casual approach of the then military regime, towards the tea plantation & farmers in Myanmar,

During this period the Chinese took the advantage of the situation created by the Burma’s military regime, and started exporting the dried tea leaf from China illegally at cheaper rates,

U Soe Maung, a farmer from Namhsan Township told that their business was greatly affected when the Chinese dried tea leaf made it big in the market in year 2002-2003. Palaung and Shan women have no jobs.

Myanmar farmers cannot afford to utilize plenty of fertilizers on their crops as compared to Chinese tea farmers. He further added that they could get better production of tea if these people know how to make use of the hills and turn it into farmlands.

Majority of dried tea coming from China is illegal. However these imports represent 75% of the market. For most farmers they prefer to shift their operations to make wet tea leaf for salad making.

Because of lesser work or no work in the country, the tea farmers & women are forced to go to China and work at poppy fields or cutting sugar cane & this further adversely affected the tea plantation in Myanmar.

REASONS FOR MYANMAR’S TEA PLANTATION UNDER PERFORMANCE:

A series of institutional policy & structural constraints has hampered agriculture growth,(including Tea plantation) and contributed to Myanmar’s current below average growth in this sector. The most critical of these problems are:

A highly skewed land distribution, which leaves roughly half of rural households landless,

Poor water control systems in the presence of global climate change,

An unsystematic & high-cost transportation system, Weak rural financial institutions, Unpredictable & uneven implementation of Govt.

Policies, Low public investments in agriculture research, and Weak links between extension services and farmers.

After the end of military regime, the first year of new government has made political reform and then are being made economical momentarily reform in second year.

Now, in order to boost the tea plantation & overall agriculture performance of its regional peers, & to match the international bench marks, Government of Myanmar has planned & taking steps to make series of Key agriculture policy reforms,

Govt. of Myanmar is enhancing their budget on agriculture research.

Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation (MOAI) has taken several steps to restructure their line ministries and departments in order to better support the farmers & to look after their grievances, which in turn help to enhance their productivity,

RAY OF HOPE FOR THE TEA PLANTATION…IN MYANMAR

OPPORTUNITY IN WAITING…

Govt. of Myanmar has taken steps to enhance the cooperation and teamwork among all the departments under MOAI, so as to uplift and strengthen the quality of production of Agro products including TEA and this is a great option to do better as compared with India, China and Vietnam.

MOAI took steps, to seek assistance from Tea plantation countries like India & Sri Lanka to have support & advise from Agriculture Research institutions & Tea companies to boost the Tea production,

Now, Govt. of Myanmar is planning to move ahead in JV collaboration with the experienced investors for cultivation & production of Tea in their tea growing lands in Shan State,

With the help of the Western Union considering Myanmar global system of preferences for Least Developed Country status, there is a big opportunity that growing tea could make an easy accessibility for new market in Europe & other part of the World.

The Investor’s Heaven is waiting for…you

For further details contact : ABDC Asia Consultants LLP, IndiaAjay Garg : +91-9810321894,Parag Kumar : +91-9899573764