Suspended trading turns about 1,000 cattle daily shipment on black market

About 1,000 cattle have been shipped to China daily on the black market despite the legitimate market of the cattle trading is suspended, said U Soe Naing, chairman of the Mandalay Region Cattle Exporters Association.
The legitimate cattle export market has halted till now since 2020.
Although the legal cattle trading market is currently closed, the cattle around the Chinese border areas are imported from Myanmar and the heads of live cattle are conveyed to China daily through illegitimate channels.
“It’s just like that for now. We are not trading the cattle through legal channels because those legitimate routes are currently closed. It has been closed since the last November 2020. It has been over a year. So, the cattle trading are growing on the black market, with around 1,000 cattle daily, U Soe Naing clarified.
Myanmar’s live cattle export relies heavily on the China market due to its reasonable price. However, Myanmar has other external markets such as Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.
The Ministry of Commerce permitted live cattle export in late 2017 intending to eliminate the illegal export market, creating more opportunities for breeders and promoting their interests.
The Ministry of Commerce grants a permit to each company for 100 cattle export and the permit is valid for three months. The companies can be taken legal action if they do not sell them during the three months.
According to the 2018 pilot project of livestock census, there were 1.8 million buffalo and 9.7 million cattle, totalling 11.5 million, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation stated.
Of them, 1.1 million cattle are old enough to be placed on the market every year.
Among them, the country needed about 400,000 heads of cattle for domestic consumption and the remaining cattle are exported to international markets, it is learnt. — NN/GNLM