Vietnamese prawn farmers consider Myanmar venture

A group of Vietnamese prawn farmers has voiced an interest in setting up a 500-acre farm in Yangon Region following a visit to Myanmar, a Myanmar Fisheries Federation official said.

U Han Tun said during the weekly fisheries federation meeting on Tuesday, December 11 that the Vietnamese delegation discussed a possible venture with the Myanmar Shrimp Association on Sunday, December 9.

 
“They joined us at an exhibition of livestock and fisheries products on December 7 and 8,” he said of the Vietnamese delegation. “They were very interested in prawn farming in Myanmar because it’s a relatively undeveloped sector but one that they understand,” he said.

“First they wanted to study the farming environment around Yangon Region and perhaps later they will cooperate with the association to farm prawn,” he said.

He said most commercially sold prawn is caught in the wild but the product enjoys strong international demand.

U Htay Myint, chairman of the Myanmar Shrimp Association, said there are about 250 prawn farms at Ngwe Saung in Ayeyarwady Region, with most about 1 acre in size. U Htay Myint owns a farm and said he would welcome foreign investment in his operation.

“I have several breeding ponds in Ngwe Saung and cold storage factories in Pathein township,” he said.

“If foreign companies want to cooperate with Myanmar businesses it will be good for us because we need some new technology and better management to improve our business,” he added.

U Win Kyaing, the federation’s general secretary, said Vietnam is widely involved in prawn farming ventures in Australia and he would welcome its participation in Myanmar.

“It would be wonderful to work with Vietnamese businesses to develop our prawn farming industry. But we warned them during negotiations that they would have to partner with Myanmar companies because they cannot invest 100 percent in projects here according to the foreign investment law.”

source: The Myanmar Times
http://mmtimes.com/index.php/business/3572-vietnamese-prawn-farmers-consider-myanmar-venture.html