Finally, the contribution of agriculture to total exports over the same period is briefly reviewed
(Table 5). According to Table 5, in the early years, agricultural exports (here defined broadly to
include livestock, fishery products and timber) had a dominant share, and accounted for over 85% of
total exports. In particular, the two dominant agricultural exports, rice and teak wood, amounted to
more than 65% of all exports. However, after 1988, this mono-culture export structure underwent
quite a dramatic transformation.
First, pulses increased markedly as an important export item. Exports of pulses by value
overtook exports of rice and teak combined by the mid-1990s, and came to account for between 20
and 25% of total exports. Second, exports of fishery products increased after the mid-1990s, just as
the momentum in the increase of pulse exports was beginning to slow down. The main item was
prawns. Third, exports of non-agricultural commodities have increased since the late 1990s. The
expansion of garment exports in the late 1990s and an increase in natural gas exports in more recent
years, have been quite prominent features of Myanmar’s changing export structure.
To summarize, the export structure of Myanmar has departed from a mono-culture pattern in
which rice and teak wood were dominant, and has diversified, first into a variety of agricultural
commodities and more recently into non-agricultural commodities, a category that has become
increasingly important in the last few years. It should be noted, however, that exports of
non-agricultural commodities are very much dominated by two items, garments and natural gas.
Thus, agricultural exports still remain important for Myanmar’s economy.