Myanmar has an annual production of about 1,100 tons of rice. It is estimated that Myanmar will be in the fiscal year 2012-13 (April), exports about 1.5 million tons, but due to weather interference, exporters this month forecast lowered to 70 million tons, about 53 percent lower than originally estimated. Year-on-year decline of about 12%, year-on-year export of 80 million tons.
According to Burmese officials, Myanmar plans within five years to increase production and to improve the infrastructure, in order to restore its position as the number one rice exporter. The Federation's goal is to increase rice production from 1.5 tons per hectare, close to the current world average, by 2017, about four tons per hectare.
It is reported that the cheap labor and the effectiveness of land and water resources, will help Myanmar rice exports to double within five years. Myanmar's goal is to increase rice exports to 300 million tons in 2017, almost doubling.