A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1991

Groundnut oil is the most popular edible oil in Myanmar. However, this industry is not well developed because of several reasons. Firstly, farmers find it more profitable to grow peas and beans instead of groundnut. Secondly, edible oil crops are exported in their raw from without being processed into oil in Myanmar. Thus there is an acute shortage of locally produced edible oil in Myanmar and to overcome this shortage, the government imports a lot of palm oil. From a nutrition point of view, large scale usage of palm oil is considered to be undesirable. Thus, the government's economic policy related to exports of the healthier edible oil crops runs contrary to its nutritional policies. The objective of the study is to evaluate and analyze the development of the edible oil sector with emphasis on groundnut oil, with a view towards identifying existing weaknesses which have led to an under-developed edible oil sector in Myanmar. The analysis is carried out with special attention to the marketing perspective and recommendations have been made to overcome existing limitation with a view towards making the edible oil sector more efficient and effective. These recommendations have implications in terms of national policy formulation, firm level operations and the edible oil crops sector.