The Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA) was created on January 12 as a national body uniting three existing separate associations - the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders' Association, the Myanmar Rice Millers' Association and the Myanmar Paddy Producers' Association, the Myanmar Times reported.
"This is the first time that we've organised three existing associations with 29 recently founded rice companies to develop Myanmar's rice industry," said Chit Khine, president of MRIA.
"Compared with Thailand and Vietnam, our rice industry is lagging behind in the region when it comes to producing quality rice for the international export market," he said.
"We need to catch up with them to be a major rice-exporting country by organising separate resources together, as we have in the founding of this national body," he added. Myanmar, once the world's leading rice exporter, shipped about 500,000 tons in the last fiscal year, ending on March 31, 2009. In comparison, Vietnam and Thailand exported 5 million and 9 million tons, respectively in 2009.