The flow of goods from Thailand has dropped by half since the Burmese
government recently introduced a new system to crackdown on illegal imports
from its neighbor, according to Burmese traders.
The Burmese Department of Border
Trade (DBT) under the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) began its operation on Tuesday
with a “mobile team” to reduce illegal trading between Burma and Thailand.
Officials targeted the Myawaddy-Rangoon route, one the main trading channels
between the two countries.
Since the crackdown, imports from
Thailand have reportedly plummeted by more than a half while fishery,
agricultural and forestry products from Burma continue to be export regularly
to Thailand through the Myawaddy trading zone.
“Most of the traders don’t send
their staff to lower areas [inside Burma] anymore. Goods are only stockpiled in
Myawaddy,” Mamet, a Burmese businessman, told The Irrawaddy.
Imports from Thailand—such as
cars, motorbikes, electronics, alcohol, beer, cosmetics, utensils, clothes and
food stuffs—come to its western neighbor through the Myawaddy-Rangoon route due
to an “understanding” between local Burmese authorities and armed Karen border
guard forces. The Burmese government, however, has warned that they will no
longer be allowed to do so since the new operation started.
The MoC said there were stable
checkpoints ran by various parties, including that of the DBT, along the
trading channel before, but the routine practice of checking and seizing
illegal imports has been changed into a mobile team.
“There will be no more stable
checkpoints and the mobile team will be moving along the route,” Tin Htun Aung,
the deputy-director of the MoC, told The Irrawaddy. “Today, the team may be in
Pa-an, the capital of Karen State, but tomorrow it may in Kawkareik, a town
before Myawaddy on the way to Thailand.”
Led by the DBT, the Mobile Team
comprises representatives from the Myanmar Customs Department, Myanmar Police
Force, local administrative bodies, Border Trade Association and the media, he
added.
Tin Htun Aung explained that
untaxed imports from Thailand are considered illegal even if they are in the
permitted list of goods. Import licenses are now available within 24 hours and
export tax has also been eased, he said.
“There will be no more eight or
10 percent export tax. Official trading volumes have decreased due to
businessmen’s involvement in illegal means. That’s why we have relaxed it in
order to control the trade flow,” said the MoC deputy-director.
Since the beginning of November,
the DBT has been busy explaining to regional assemblies, related departments
and associations, businessmen and the media about its mobile team.
According to Thailand’s Tak
Chamber of Commerce, monthly imports from Thailand to Burma through its border
town of Mae Sot are worth three billion baht (US $100 million). A Thai
merchant, however, recently told The Irrawaddy that the amount could be as much
as $500 million.
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