Issuance of re-export sugar licenses with China have been suspended, according to U Aung Htoo, deputy commerce minister. This recent measure comes in light to solve the problem of currency manipulation. However, he added that it’s a temporary decision and will be reconsidered if businesses and foreign currency stabilizes.

In face of this decision, China has stopped buying sugar from Myanmar for a full month. Initially, a bilateral official route trade for rice, sugar and maize was discussed at the end of May, but was cancelled abrupt by the Chinese central government.

Currently, a 20-kilogramme bag of sugar has a price tag of 165 Yuan, which is significantly higher than the previous years. But for some businesses, Ministry of Commerce’s suspension for re-export doesn’t pose trouble for sugar traders due to the decline of foreign currency and virtually no demand from China.

The re-export licenses issuance started in 2015 to promote local trade volume, but it was suspended for piling up re-export sugar in the local market last year. Experts from the sugar industry point out that re-export licenses shouldn’t be issued in the local sugar crushing season. Re-export refined sugar was US$399 million, at the same time, export of local sugar was around US$3.646 million in September 2018, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Source: Myanmar Times

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