‘Safe Food’ Market Gains Fans

Chemical-free fruits and vegetables attract health-conscious consumers

By NYEIN NYEIN / YANGON

Only a few shops are open in Bahan Township’s unusual bazaar at 6:45 am on a Saturday, when a onceweekly market offers a rare selection of fruits and vegetables for customers concerned with food hygiene and safety.

The “Safe Food from Safe Farms” market is an initiative of the Myanmar Fruits, Flowers and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association (MFVA) to ensure access to clean, natural and delicious produce.

The market’s dozen or so vendors don banners showing where their farms are located: Naypyitaw; Hlegu, Bago Region; Nyaung Htone, Ayeyarwady Region; Aung Pan, Pindaya and Ywar Ngan in Shan State.

U Zaw Min Tun, the manager of an organic farm in Naypyitaw owned by the Dagon International company, said that while the new market isn’t yet making much profit, he’s glad to be among the pioneering merchants bringing organically produced food into the fold. Dagon International, which has been using organic farming methods and cultivating chemical-free crops on some 100 acres of land since 2011, supplies hotel restaurants in Naypyitaw, but those who shop at the Yangon market get a better bargain. U Zaw Min Tun said clients in the capital pay about double for the fresh, local products.

All the farms in the Safe Foods network are regularly inspected to ensure that they are chemical-free and produce natural foods through sustainable practices. The MFVA can “guarantee the safety” of all of the market’s foodstuffs, according to secretary U San Lin.

“It’s not that the vegetables sold here are one hundred percent organic,” he said, “but what we recommend here is safe food.”

Unfortunately, he added, the 33 farms in the network are not yet ready to mass produce organic foods, but they will be in time. Organic agriculture requires pure soil, seeds and water sources, which poses problems for many farmers in Myanmar whose lands are near industrial sites. “Even if the farmers don’t use chemicals, they can be affected,” U San Lin said.

The MFVA has been providing technical support since 2010 for farmers who want to go natural, but they still have a long way to go bef0re they can produce certifiable organic produce.

In the last two months, the Safe Foods market has gained in popularity.

“I am careful about eating healthy food,” said Daw Thwin, 67, who takes a daily walk in Bahan and shops at the market every Saturday. “We are reluctant to buy fruits at regular markets out of fear of chemicals, but here we don’t have to worry.”

Food safety has always been an issue in Myanmar, but consumers often have little choice when it comes to safe food at reasonable prices. Media attention to excessive chemical use has also helped make the public aware of health risks associated with certain foods.

As Daw Thwin hung around waiting for more shops to open, she had just one suggestion for making the market more successful.

“It could open earlier for the many people who get up and do exercise at Kandawgyi Park,” she recommended. Vendors said the city traffic slows things down, but they hope to be able to meet consumers’ needs. 

The market is open every Saturday at Myay Padethar Kyun, near the Garden Mart and Education Center in Bahan Township.

A man uses his mobile phone on a bridge in central Yangon. Foreign direct investment in Myanmar grew sharply during the 2014-15 fiscal year, reaching a record US$8 billion, a more than doubling of FDI compared to the year before, according to the Myanmar Investment Commission.

“We expected $4 or 5 billion, but at the end of the fiscal year the figures have risen to a record of $8 billion,’’ said U Aung Naing Oo, directorgeneral of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) and a member of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC).

DICA figures indicate that the oil and gas sector attracted $3.2 billion in FDI; the transport and telecommunication sector saw investments rise to $1.6 billion, closely followed by manufacturing with $1.5 billion. Real estate and hotels and tourism were the fourth and fifth sectors receiving most FDI, with $780 million and $357 million respectively.

In the 2013-14 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, Myanmar attracted about $3.5 billion in FDI, half of which flowed into its labor-intensive manufacturing sector.

Singapore-listed companies comprised more than half of the investment volume in 2014-15 with a combined total of $4.2 billion, reflecting an apparent trend of managing local projects remotely from the investment haven, particularly for oil and gas projects. Hong Kong-based firms were the second-largest investors with $850 million, followed by China-registered companies with $516 million, according to the DICA. —Kyaw Hsu Mon

HAGL Seeks New Investor

Vietnamese conglomerate Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) is reportedly targeting Hong Kong and Singapore firms as it seeks a new investor for a massive real estate development on the eastern shore of Yangon’s Inya Lake.

A deal for Singapore-based Rowsley Ltd to buy a 50 percent stake in the project fell apart in April, with blame placed on Myanmar’s high levels of tax.

The companies announced the deal, which would have seen the Singapore company invest US$275 million in the mixed-use project, in February. But, in an announcement to investors on April 3, Rowsley company secretary Kannan Malini said, “The Company will not enter into the proposed joint venture as the conditions precedent under the Heads of Terms Agreement have not been satisfied,” without going into details.

HAGL said that the deal had broken down because Rowsley wanted to invest directly in HAGL’s local subsidiary Hoang Anh Gia Lai Myanmar Company Ltd, rather than investing indirectly by buying shares in the group’s Vietnamese joint stock company.

“Since the current tax rate applied to the profit from capital transfer in Myanmar is so high [40 percent], Hoang Anh Gia Lai could not accept the suggestion of Rowsley,” said the HAGL statement, signed by acting general director Vo Truong Son.

The report said the failure to reach an agreement with Rowsley would not impact the project. “The office building and hotel are still slated to open this June,” it said, “while the shopping center will likely open in September.” —Simon Lewis

Trade Deficit Jumps as Imports Rise

Myanmar’s trade deficit jumped 88 percent in the last fiscal year, state media and a commerce ministry official said in April.

Myanmar imported more than US$16 billion of goods and exports totalled more than $11 billion in the 2014-2015 fiscal year, leaving a deficit of more than $4.9 billion, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

A senior commerce ministry official put the previous year’s deficit at $2.6 billion.

Capital goods such as construction materials for infrastructure projects accounted for about 40 percent of imports, while fuel made up 30 percent and consumer goods 20 percent, the official said. —Reuters