A host of seafood potential in Myanmar

Myanmar is one of world’s least developed countries, but recently embarked on a course of irreversible economic, social and commercial growth. Its democratic reforms led the EU to lift economic sanctions and to actively encourage European companies to trade with and invest in Myanmar. In July 2013, the Generalized System of Preferences was reinstated for this country, opening the way for goods to be imported to the EU.  

According to May Myat Noe Lwin, better known as Noe Noe, a seafood consultant based in Thailand who makes regular visits back to her home country, Myanmar’s long period of isolation from the rest of the world and its concentration on production for domestic consumption, means it has a lot of catching up to do.

“We have good natural resources but work is needed to improve infrastructure such as roads and electricity supply, and the World Bank is putting in USD 2 billion (EUR 1.46 million) to help with this. However, we need to move seafood up the scale of importance as far as the government is concerned and to help them realise that it has excellent export potential,” she added.

Noe Noe also works as local coordinator for the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), which has included Myanmar in its South East Asia (SEA) Aquaculture Program.   

“We started looking at Myanmar in 2011 for two reasons,” explained Lukas Manomaitis, USSEC SEA technical director for aquaculture. “The first is a real possibility for U.S. soy sales now that the country is opening up to trade, and the second and more important to our aquaculture program, is that Myanmar is a very large producer of aquaculture products. However, these are not necessarily produced as efficiently as they could be, nor are they the best species to develop an export business with, and we want to help with this,” he said.

Manomaitis is keen to see a move away from traditional low margin fish such as carp, and a diversification into more valuable species such as tilapia and sea bass. There is also a large shrimp industry in the country that needs overhauling.  

“Myanmar had a strong tilapia sector in the past, but this was killed by international sanctions, high export taxes and finally by Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed hatcheries and production systems,” said Manomaitis. However, with seafood companies seeking to move away from traditional sources of tilapia such as China, he believes that Myanmar has a chance to gain market share if production can be managed well.

Noe Noe agrees with his sentiments and explained that her vision is for industry to learn from the errors of other countries, and to get the basics right from the bottom up. “We need to ensure that we get it all right, from production methods, through quality and quantity, to food safety and sustainable certification,” she said.  

USSEC’s aquaculture program promotes profitable, sustainable, soy-optimized feed-based aquaculture through knowledge transfer, and works on a longterm basis to help the industry improve.   

“In Myanmar we had to start from scratch, and Noe Noe spent a lot of time informing people and organizations about us. This was met with some skepticism at first, but as the aquaculture industry became more aware of who we are and what we do, we gradually gained their trust,” said Manomaitis.

The program is now organizing seminars and training sessions for producers, to help improve growing techniques and introduce them to the possibilities of international markets, and also working with local feed mills. Manomaitis admitted that it was a two-way relationship, and that USSEC was learning a lot about aquaculture in Myanmar.

“Our primary objectives now, are to set up and run a demonstration project to show the benefits of better feed formulation approaches and updated production technology, and Noe Noe will be running one with pangasius later this year,” he said.

On the marine front, USSEC is working with an existing sea bass hatchery and cage farm in Myeik. “One of our first successes was to move this hatchery and farm onto formulated feeds and away from ‘trashfish’ feeds and we aim to have a formal demonstration program running at this site soon,” said Manomaitis.

He believes there is great potential for industry growth in Myamar. “We hope to install an aquaculture technical manager there later this year and feel that the size and potential of the industry warrants having a more robust approach. There are a lot of small steps that can have an immediate and positive impact on improving the industry, and we are working on these,” he stated.

“Myanmar was included in our latest Aquaculture Market and Investment Report, due to be released soon, and comes out looking fairly positive for investment compared to other SEA nations.”

Meanwhile, Noe Noe is hoping to set up the first aquaculture library in the country, at the Myanmar Fisheries Federation in Yangon and is desperate for donations of books and magazines related to seafood news, trade and the wider industry. “Our producers have a lot to learn, and as internet access is still not good, it would be wonderful if SeafoodSource readers could help us to build up a resource,” she said.