POSCO International President Joo Si-boo and Administrator Kim Kyeong-kyu of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) attend a ceremony to sign an MOU on improving the value chain of the rice business in Myanmar POSCO International’s Seoul office on Aug. 5.

POSCO International Corp. is rolling up its sleeves to provide support to farm households and ramp up the value chain of the grain business in Myanmar through a public-private partnership.

POSCO International and the Rural Development Administration (RDA) signed an MOU on improving the value chain of the rice business in Myanmar, ranging from rice varieties to cultivation, and processing to distribution.

Among those on hand at POSCO International’s Seoul office on Aug. 5 were POSCO International President Joo Si-boo and RDA Administrator Kim Kyeong-kyu.

Under the deal, RDA will provide technology to produce unified, quality raw rice and POSCO International will be charged with processing and distribution of local rice to establish the so-called K-agriculture private-public partnership.

Local farmers will be educated on rice cultivation technology and management technology after harvest. The two sides agreed to make efforts to establish the public-private partnership a representative example of K-agriculture by reviewing the whole process and implement improvement plans.

The RDA also owns locale-customized rice production management technology it had acquired through the KOPIA project. The project, which had been implemented since 2014, involved cooperation tasks for rice variety development, improvement of cultivation technology and post-harvest management.

POSCO International President Joo said, "Our partnership will serve as a meaningful opportunity to actively practice POSCO Group's management tenet of corporate citizenship and enhance the national standing of Korea by contributing to the increase of income for Myanmar farmers and development of Myanmar's rice industry through rice variety improvement.”

An bird’s eye-view of a rice processing complex in Myanmar. (Photos: POSCO International)

POSCO International Corp. Dedicates 2nd Rice Processing Complex in Myanmar

POSCO International Corp. dedicated a second rice processing complex in Myanmar, ramping up its presence in the global grain market.

The dedication came after the company acquired a rice processing complex with a capacity of 15,000 tons of rice in 2017.

The grain business is one of the 100 business tasks, selected by POSCO Group. The dedication of the latest rice processing complex in Myanmar, will enable POSCO International to establish a system to supply 100,000 tons of rice and shore up its position as a grain supplier.

Using the rice processing complex, POSCO International is expected to secure quality raw material rice in Myanmar and expand sales to China, the Middle East and Europe by improving the quality of processing, thus increasing a market share and securing a stable profit.