YANGON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar earned 23 million U.S. dollars from export of jade in the first quarter of the current 2017-2018 fiscal year which began in April, up 746,000 dollars year-on-year, official report said Friday.
The country also fetched 61.9 billion kyats (45 million U.S. dollars) earlier in March when over 4,200 lots of raw jade were sold at a government-sponsored jade exhibition, the Ministry of Commerce was quoted as saying.
Myanmar jade is mainly exported to China and India.
During the last 2016-2017 fiscal year, Myanmar exported over 11,000 tons of raw jade worth of 246.736 million U.S. dollars to neighboring markets especially China.
According to statistics, total export value of mineral products including jade reached 865.865 million U.S. dollars in the last fiscal year.
Myanmar's jade is mainly produced in Lone Khin and Phakant in northernmost Kachin state, while ruby and sapphire in Mogok in Mandalay region and Mongshu in Shan state.
The government has encouraged production of finished jade products instead of raw jade for natural resources reservation and more tax earning.
