Myanmar Fisheries Going Through Difficult Times with Decline in Imports

Myanmar's fisheries and marine product exports have on the decline ever since its Saudi Arabia and the United States stopped buying.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since April 2018, canceled the imports of rohu fish from Myanmar after bacteria was found on the same fish species imported from Vietnam. Despite clarifications from officials that Myanmar's rohu didn't contain any bacteria, the market didn't hid and went on to impose a blanket ban on imports from Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. The US, since 2017, has stopped buying marine produce from Myanmar because it does not use turtle excluder devices (TED) in its fishing nets.

And this has caused significant losses in terms of export earnings for the country. The local fisheries industry has been affected tremendously. U Win Kyaing, secretary of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation said the country has lost 20,000 tonnes worth of marine product exports to Saudi Arabia. However, Myanmar is continuing to push the Kingdom to lift the ban. And it has agreed to send a delegate from its Food and Drug Authority to check on the cold storage facilities and fish farms in Myanmar. Even so, industry insiders say some fish farms may not be ready for scrutiny by Saudi inspectors as they have chicken and pig farms near or above the fish breeding ponds.

U Myo Nyunt, secretary of Myanmar Fishery Products Processors and Exporters Association said having chicken coops above fish breeding ponds is no longer acceptable internationally. "If Saudi Arabia is invited to check without first changing this system, not only will it not lift the ban, other markets might do as well."