doing business in myanmar – what you need to know as a singaporean
Local pig breeders want the government to take action on illegal imports of pigs from Thailand. Local pig breeders and small scale pig breeders say they are suffering financial hardship because of an uneven playing field created by the illegal pigs.
Myanmar allows pig and pork imports, but illegal imports — which occurs most along Thai-Myanmar border — is making it hard for local breeders at the market.
U Myint Hlaing, an experienced pig breeder and former member of Myanmar Pig Breeders Association said, ‘‘We can’t compete with the pigs imported from Thailand in quality or price.’’
On top of illegal imports, Thailand breeders have better pig feed, better technology, and a better pig species, which makes it very hard for Myanmar pig breeders to compete with the quality of pigs legally imported from Thailand, let alone the illegal imports.
’‘It is not surprising that pork producers would want to select pigs of a better quality. If 500 pigs are imported daily, then local pig breeders lose market share of 500 pigs resulting in a lowering of the sale price,’’ he added.
Myanmar has many small scale pig breeders, but only a few large size pig farms, while Thailand has plenty of pig farms containing thousands of pigs.
There hasn’t been an effective crackdown on illegal pig imports, but Myanmar authorities have seized 349 live pigs and 83 dead pigs imported from Thailand on January 5 this year.
Pig breeders are not the only ones seeing financial woes. Local fish breeders are too. With unstable pig prices and higher quality pork, it’s taking away from the fish market share as well , U Myint Hlaing pointed out.
Private sector alone cannot compete with the Thailand market, so the government should step in to support the pig breeders, perhaps finding them land as one way to help in long run, sources close to the industry said.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
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