About 40 trucks of Myanmar products are being exported to China through Kyinsankyawt checkpoint at the Muse border trade, said U Min Thein, vicechair of the Muse Rice Wholesale Centre. Earlier, the export truck of Myanmar products to China was roughly about 400 trucks per day. “This Kyinsankyawt is a checkpoint that used to be able to cross about 300 or 400 truckloads of goods. But now, only 30 or 40 trucks are passed through the crossing,” U Min Thein clarified. China shut down all the border crossings with Myanmar in the wake of COVID-19 negative consequences.
Of the land borders, Kyinsankyawt has been reopened on a trial run from 26 November. Thus, it has to be done step by step with many restrictions during the pandemic period. Besides the trucks carrying goods are being stuck in the one checkpoint. Currently, rice and broken rice, rubber, various types of peas, dried plums, watermelon, melons and other foodstuffs are exported to China through land borders. The Muse border, which is the mainstay of Myanmar-China border trade, is connected with Nandawphyu, Hsinphyu, Mang Wein, Kyinsankyawt-Wang Ding and Pansai-Wamting borders.
At present, Myanmar carries out border trade with China mainly through Muse, Lwejel, Chinshwehaw, Kampaiti and Kengtung border checkpoints. Of these, Muse border trade points stood the largest trade zone. Nevertheless, checkpoints from the Muse border trade zone were closed for over four months in 2021 due to COVID-19. As a result of the complete closure of the Myanmar-China border, about 5,000 labourers from Myanmar are now unemployed. Now, about 50 or 60 buses operating between Muse and China are facing losses. Likewise, the merchants in Muse, who are trading with China are facing the loss as well. In the 2019-20FY, the value of border trade through the Muse border zone totalled $4,057.724 million, according to the official statistics of the Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerce.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar