7 Sep
The value of Myanmar’s imports between 1 October and 21 August in the current financial year 2019-2020 stood at US$17.27 billion, an increase of $1.16 billion from $16 billion registered in the year-ago period, according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The value of imports in the consumer, capital, intermediate goods, and CMP businesses groups rose significantly in the current financial year.
Nearly 11 months of the current FY, capital goods, such as auto parts, vehicles, machines, steel, and aeroplane parts, were brought into the country. Their import value was estimated at $6.5 billion. The figure was $1.49 billion higher compared to the same period in the previous FY. Meanwhile, Myanmar imported consumer products worth $3 billion, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and palm oil. The imports of consumer products showed an increase of $1.34 million compared with the same period in the previous FY.
Intermediate goods make up a large share of Myanmar’s imports, with petroleum products and plastic raw materials being the main import items. This year, imports of raw materials plunged to $5.7 billion from $6 billion registered during the year-ago period. During the same period, raw materials worth $1.95 billion were also imported for the Cut-Make-Pack (CMP) garment sector, showing a decrease of $147 million compared with last fiscal year.
At present, the CMP garment sector which contributes to 30 per cent of Myanmar’s export sector is facing hardship because of the cancellation of order from the European countries and suspension of the trade by western countries amid the COVID-19. Therefore, import values of raw materials by CMP businesses have been dropping. The top 10 import countries to Myanmar are China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Viet Nam, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US, as per data of the Ministry of Commerce.
GNLM (Translated by Ei Myat Mon)
