Under those negotiations, the Myanmar government is pushing to export its pulses and beans at the prevailing market prices, whereas the Indian government wants prices to be fixed below the market price, U Myat Soe, CEC of Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association (MPBSMA), said. 

 “Each time the Minister of Commerce goes to India, discussions over Myanmar’s pulse and bean exports will take place,” U Toe Aung Myint, secretary of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said this month.

The price negotiations were revived again this month, seven months since Indian slammed an import quota on pulses and beans from Myanmar last August. 

In a move to stabilise prices amid a domestic oversupply, India had announced a 200,000-tonne import quota on Myanmar pigeon peas and 300,000-tonne import quota on Myanmar mung beans in August last year.

India successfully managed to block pulse and bean imports from Myanmar last year as the country had not signed an earlier government-to-government trade quota agreement with India even though the latter is the highest importer of Myanmar pulses and beans. 

Myanmar officials had refused to sign the agreement, saying India wanted to buy its produce at prices below the market. Now, the two countries are back to negotiations. 

Myanmar exports over a million tonnes of pulses and beans yearly, raking in revenues exceeding $1 billion over the same period, according to the MOC. Between 70percent and 80pc of that is exported to India. 

However, prices have fallen substantially since India’s trade quota and now Myanmar is raising exports to other markets such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, according to the MPBSMA.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-india-continue-pulse-and-bean-price-negotiations.html