The junta-controlled Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) is set to auction timber on Wednesday, according to a notice on the enterprise’s website, with bids restricted to US dollars.
The sale comes just days after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that devastated the country’s second-largest city Mandalay and other areas last Friday.
MTE is a key revenue earner for the regime that seized power in February 2021 and a major source of foreign currency as reserves have dwindled amid an economic crisis triggered by the coup.
The state-owned enterprise has consequently been sanctioned by the governments of Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. It has a monopoly on the production, sale, and export of Myanmar timber, including teak, which is in high demand for yachts, luxury furniture, and decking.
Myanmar Now reached out to MTE for comment on the planned auctions, but did not receive a reply.
Faith Doherty, head of the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency’s forest campaign, said that timber should be used to rebuild after the earthquake, not sold by the junta for a profit.
“The fact that under a horrific situation for the people of Burma, this regime sells one of the country’s precious natural resources is beyond belief. And the international community continues to buy Burmese teak with no regard nor care for the people of Burma. This is blood timber,” she said.
Earlier in March, MTE published a yearly schedule of monthly tenders starting April 2. In a separate announcement, it invited bids for 301 tonnes of teak logs, 57 cubic metres of teak boards and other processed material, and 161 tonnes of ironwood, all from locations in Yangon.
Despite Western sanctions, the international trade has continued. According to research from US-based environmental group Forest Trends, global imports of Myanmar forest products have exceeded US$1.27 billion from the military’s 2021 coup to the end of August 2024, with China being the biggest import market.
