Myanmar plans to export farmed freshwater tilapia fish to the United States following the Friday, November 16 easing of an import ban, the vice chairman of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation said last week.
U Han Tun said US consumers have an appetite for tilapia - about the fourth-most popular plate species - but the federation needs to ensure that quality levels reach the standards required.
“Tilapia is the fourth most popular dinner species in the US but we're trying to work out what we need to do to export to that market,” he said.
He added that the federation would work with Winrock International in a USAID-funded program to upgrade the species of tilapia for export and crab breeding, while another program will target goat breeding.
“We need to export high-quality fish to the US but the species we breed in Myanmar is not good. And we also need to contact potential buyers to assess transportation costs,” he added.
“Moreover, we must also sell our fish at a competitive price because other countries export this fish too,” U Han Tun said.
Myanmar's fisheries products, including ocean-caught fish and freshwater prawn, will soon be exported to the US, he said.
He added that Myanmar will no longer need to export via third party nations, such as Singapore, as it had done in the past to avoid sanctions, which created a number of problems for exporters.
“In the past, we had difficulties with remittance because we could only work through three state-owned banks. But there are more ways to remit money now and we can also link up with international banks,” he said.