Myanmar makes progress in soft-shell crab production
Myanmar has been making progress in soft-shell crab production on its own with its raw materials after two years' endeavors in the move, sources with the Crab Entrepreneurs Association (CEA) said on Thursday.
Previously, Myanmar exported crabs to neighboring China on demand and raw materials to Vietnam and Thailand for production of soft-shell crab.
Soft-shell crab has become a new export item of the country's marine export products in addition to fresh-water fish, crabs and prawns.
In the first eight months (April-Nov) of the 2009-10 fiscal year, Myanmar exported a total of 20.12 million U.S dollars worth of crabs, of which the soft-shell crabs accounted for 5.04 million dollars, statistics show.
The Myanmar CEA has set a target of crab export as 35 million dollars for the present fiscal year 2009-10 against the previous years' 31.5 million dollars.
According to an overall statistics of the fishery department, Myanmar's marine export hit 283 million U.S. dollars in the first eight month of 2009-10, accounting for 40.4 percent of the targeted export of 700 million dollars for the entire year.
Among the marine export, that of fresh-water fish fetched the largest amount with 75.55 million dollars.
Meanwhile, China topped Myanmar's marine export country line-up, followed by Thailand, Japan and Singapore.
The other marine products exporting countries include Middle East countries, European Union countries, South Korea, Japan and Argentina.
Myanmar's fishery sector remained as the fourth largest contributor to the gross domestic product and also the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earning during the past five years.
With a long coastline of over 2,800 km and a total area of 500,000 hectares of swamps along the coast, the country has an estimated sustainable yield of marine products at over one million tons a year.