[Myanmar] Bean Exporters Ink New Export Contract With Rich Nations

Fried beans, served as a garnish with pickled tea leaves, are a popular traditional food in Burma. (Photo: Wikimedia)

RANGOON — Bean exporters in Burma will sell almost 3 million tons of produce to Canada, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore this year in a new deal announced on Friday.

Vice President Khin San, of the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seed Merchants Association, told The Irrawaddy the deal included exports of mung beans, lablab beans and black-eyed peas.

Ten privately owned export companies were granted export contracts under the deal, Khin San said.

“We are getting paid more than usual under this deal so it is satisfactory,†he said. “The only issue we might face is with the quality of the product.â€

Tun Naing of Asia Winner Industrial Ltd, one of the contracted firms, said his company would export 40,000 metric tons of green mung beans by the end of the year.

“As sanctions are eased we are seeing more opportunities to do business abroad this year,†he said. “The banking system is better than ever. I’m sure our beans will be popular in the Europe and America in the near future.â€

Beans are the second-largest agricultural export from Burma after rice. Forty-nine percent of farmers grow beans according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Most of the produce is exported to India and China.