Workers transport rice to truck in Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi – President of the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) Ye Min Aung said that the tightening in global supply should help revive Myanmar’s rice shipments, which slumped 56 per cent in the first four months of the fiscal year, and bring it closer to its annual goal of earning 1 billion USD from exports of the grain.

According to MRF, from April to July this year, Myanmar exported nearly 320,000 tonnes of rice clocking only 138 million USD after the government decided to prioritise selling higher-grade rice.

However, prospects for its rice exports improved last month when India, the world’s top exporter, banned a substantial portion of its overseas sales to keep a lid on domestic prices. That’s pushed up rice prices in countries in the region to a record high in the last 15 years.

According to MRF President, Myanmar hopes to take advantage, even though it will maintain its focus on exporting only higher-quality varieties.

Although sales of high-quality rice can bring in 700 USD per tonne compared to 300-400 USD per tonne for low-quality rice, this measure also limits the number of customers from rich countries.

According to MRF, in the past two financial years, Myanmar earned about 800 million USD a year from rice exports, and its largest partners were China, the Philippines, and Belgium. The US ranked Myanmar as the sixth largest rice exporter in the world last year.