Rice exports from Mandalay halted after China arrests traders
Published on Wednesday, 24 September 2014 17:17
Rice dealers have stopped shipping rice from Mandalay to the border checkpoint of Muse for export to China as officials on the Chinese side are not only seizing imports of the grain but interrogating and arrested Chinese buyers, rice traders in Mandalay say.
Chinese officials are investigating traders who import Myanmar rice, seizing shipments, freezing bank accounts and arresting some traders, rice exporters say.
Traders from central Myanmar say they have given up exporting to China as Chinese buyers are no longer buying rice at the Muse Wholesale Centre due to the crackdown.
"Traders from the China side were first arrested on September 18. The next day they stopped visiting the Muse Wholesale Centre. So, trade is over. All exports of rice from Mandalay have been stopped since September 20," said the chairman of the rice wholesale centre in Mandalay.
The block on exports is occurring as the rice harvest gets underway, he added.
He said that the crackdown this year was far worse than those in previous years when traders inside China only risked the seizure of rice imported from Myanmar. This year, they are being interrogated, arrested and having their bank accounts frozen, he said.
"Chinese traders don't dare come to the wholesale centre," he said.
Another trader who exports rice to Muse from Mandalay said Chinese officials often cracked down on imports during harvest season, but they were taking far more aggressive moves this year.
Myanmar rice dealers also sell on credit and this may have to change if the arrests continue in China, as buyers there will be unable to pay, he said.
Nay Pyi Taw is attempting to sign a bilateral agreement with Beijing to export rice to the country. An agreement is expected to be signed at the Asean Agriculture Ministerial Meeting at the end of this month, according to the Myanmar Rice Association.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/rice-exports-from-mandalay-halted-after-china-arrests-traders/
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