Myanmar committee takes broom to outdated laws

Yan Lin told a roundtable discussion in Nay Pyi Taw on agricultural investment opportunities that changes were coming.
“The committee is scrutinising 22 laws. We are thinking about the need for amendments to these outdated laws and the drafting of new legislation. We are striving to achieve development of the agricultural sector on all |fronts. The amendment and enactment of laws is the main duty of |all MPs.”
The discussion mainly focused on agricultural policy, investment law and policy, the protection and promotion of farmers’ rights, the national land use policy of the previous government and the tasks of the committee for scrutinising seized farmland and other land.
The main outcomes from the discussion will be submitted to Parliament |– Myanmar Eleven

Myanmar’s gas export 
earnings slide amid glut
Myanmar earned $2.4 billion from natural gas exports for the fiscal year to the end of January, $1.1 billion less than last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Last year’s income from gas exports was $3.5 billion, the ministry said.
Gas exports represent about 60 per cent of Myanmar’s export earnings, making it vulnerable to the falling price of gas on the world market, said Habib Rab from the World Bank. “That is because the global market is oversupplied,” Habib said.
Myanmar started exporting natural gas from Shwe natural gas project off the Rakhine coast to China in 2014.
French energy company Total is exporting natural gas from the Yadana natural gas project to Thailand.
The Yadana, Yetagon, Zawtika and Shwe gas projects are expected to collectively produce 515 billion cubic feet of natural gas for export and 160.6 billion cubic feet for domestic use this fiscal year, according to the second five-year National Development Plan until 2021. 
According to the plan’s projections, the Yadana project will produce 206.2 billion cubic feet; Yetagon 73.4 billion cubic feet; Zawtika 89.4 billion cubic feet and Shwe 146 billion cubic feet.
According to the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, gas production this |fiscal year will reach 689.8 billion |cubic feet, including 14.2 billion cubic feet from onshore blocks and |675.6 billion cubic feet offshore. |– Myanmar Eleven 

Turkey’s Marsa to open
margarine plant in Brunei
Turkish food manufacturer Marsa Yag Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi will open a margarine-making plant in Brunei Darussalam as part of its regional expansion plans.
The operation will come under Western Foods and Packaging Sdn Bhd (WFP), which will begin production in April, the Ministry of Finance said at the weekend.
The establishment of WFP in Brunei is expected to leverage the Turkish company’s expertise in producing margarine, oil and fats for the export market.
The project, a joint venture between the government of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah through the Strategic Development Capital Fund of the Ministry of Finance and Marsa Yag Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, will spur the country’s economic growth in sectors outside oil and gas and create more job opportunities for Bruneians, the government says.
Marsa exports to 60 countries and has turnover of over $100 million.
The company’s annual production capacity includes 200,000 tonnes of margarine and 100,000 tonnes of liquid oil mainly from its plant in Adana, the largest in Turkey. The company also produces shortening, sunflower oil, olive oil, ghee, pasta, flour, powder soup, desserts and semolina.
WFP’s manufacturing facility is built on a 1.9 hectare site in Serasa Industrial Area and is set to begin production with an initial production capacity of 200 tonnes a day of margarine.
The main raw material for the production of margarine is palm oil. Exports will be targeted to the Asean region.
The WFP plant is expected to create more than 100 jobs when it goes into full production this year. Seventeen workers are employed at the facility now.– Borneo Bulletin