According to Commerce Journal, published by the Ministry of Commerce, more than 63,800 tonnes of sesame were exported in the 2012-13 financial year. Of this, 45,000 tonnes – or 77% – was sold to China via the border trading zone of Muse in Shan State at the border. The remaining 23% was exported by ship to South Korea (8000 ton), Singapore (3800 ton) and Japan (2600 ton).
The country’s sesame sown area in 2011-12 was estimated at 3.94 million acres by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. Of the sown area, 80 percent was within the central dry zone, which comprises parts of Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe regions and makes up the major growing area for oilseed crops.
Myanmar trade data collected by the Directorate of Trade under the Ministry of Commerce shows that the largest volume of sesame exported in a financial year was 117,330 tonnes, which occurred during the 2007-08 fiscal year, when the average export price was US$1156 a tonne.
Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture Sesame Export Statistics 
The total value of exports that year was nearly $136 million. However the peak average export price occurred the following year, when 100,710 tonnes of sesame were exported, earning more than $160 million.
White sesame grown in Monywa, Pakokku and Magwe is shipped to Mandalay, and then forwarded to Muse. Exporters in Yangon also bought white and black sesame in Magwe and Pakokku at Aunglan in Magwe Region. It is then shipped to and warehoused in Yangon before being cleaned and prepared for export.
Sesame’s main growing season is the monsoon months, although smaller crops are grown during the cool season and hot season. The central dry zone has an ideal climate for sesame cultivation, which requires water but not as much as is available in lower Myanmar, which sees much heavier rains.
The monsoon crop is planted in May and harvested in August, quickly unleashing new supplies into markets. Sesame sown in September or October and harvested in December is the cool season harvest. For this crop, farmers rely on residual moisture in the soil. Sesame sown in March and April, the hot season, relies on irrigated water and is harvested in June.
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation statistics for the 2011-12 year show that yields per acre are highest in the hot season (14.80 baskets or 362 kilograms an acre), followed by cool season (12.48 baskets, 306kg an acre) and monsoon season (8.13 baskets, 199kg an acre). However, the increased yields per acre are offset by a heavily reduced sown area.
From a trading point of view, sesame is grouped into three colours: black (theikpanhnan), white, and mixed colour sesame, including red, brown, yellow and more.
Black sesame sells for about 16 percent more than white, which is more expensive than mixed sesame. The average spot price of black sesame, white sesame and other colour sesame in the second week of November was K2044-2471 a viss (1 viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds), K1774-2107 and K1690-1905 respectively.
Before 2011, Myanmar’s trade policy prohibited the export of mixed sesame but allowed white and black sesame to be sold abroad by private companies.
The result of that policy was that mixed colour sesame was mostly sold to mills and made into cooking oil.
However, traders illegally exported large amounts of red and brown sesame to China, sometimes creating shortages of sesame for mills.
The price of white sesame is rising owing to demand from Chinese traders at Shweli, which has had a flow-on effect – farmers are sowing more white sesame to cater to the increased demand.
In 2011, the national trade policy was reversed by the Ministry of Commerce and all colours of sesame were made available for export.
White sesame is purchased by local traders to make roasted sesame powder, which is then exported to South Korea, with technological assistance provided by Korean companies.
United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation statistics for 2010 show the leading sesame exporters are Ethiopia and India, which shipped 228,039 tonnes and 321,771 tonnes respectively.
The biggest importer was China, with 420,635 tonnes, followed by Japan, which imported 161,433 tonnes and South Korea, with 77,747 tonnes.
Sesame fills a number of roles in Myanmar’s culinary world and is used as a garnish, a snack on its own, a flavouring in some foods and as an oil for cooking, some of which is sold for export. The byproduct from oil production, oil cake, is also used as feed for livestock and fish farms.
U Kyaw Myi nt is a former civil servant, and consultant with the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Market Information Service Project, the Agriculture Market Information Service (AMIS) and E-Trade Myanmar.
Original Link Myanmar Times