Mitsui & Co Ltd entered into an agreement with Behn Meyer to form a joint-venture company, BMM Venture, registered in Singapore. Mitsui will hold a 49-per-cent equity stake.

BMM Venture will then establish Agri First Co Ltd, in collaboration with MAPCO, to manufacture and distribute fertilisers in Myanmar. BMM Venture will hold 60 per cent in Agri First while MAPCO would hold the rest.

The factory’s annual capacity is 100,000 tonnes. It aims to commence production in May 2017. Myanmar’s fertiliser demand is just over one million tonnes a year.

Agri First hopes to combine Behn Meyer’s expertise and experience in fertiliser manufacturing, MAPCO’s distribution network and Mitsui’s financing, logistics, procurement and marketing capabilities.

Under a 20-year foreign-investment promotion plan, US$6 billion (Bt210 billion) is projected to enter Myanmar in the financial year that will end this month, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.

Aung Naing Oo, secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), said recently that more investment was expected to enter the country under the new National League for Democracy government.

He said the economy had excellent potential.

“The incoming government is politically strong as it is elected by the people in accordance with their desires. There is great potential for domestic and foreign businesses in the country,” he said.

In this fiscal year, most foreign investment went into the oil and natural-gas sector with 39 per cent, with telecommunications coming second with 30 per cent.

The industrial sector received 16 per cent of total foreign investment.

Throughout the period of the Thein Sein administration, the oil and gas sector received $5.8 billion and the industrial sector $4.7 billion, according to the MIC. The telecommunications sector received $3.7 billion.

“Everyone expects the incoming civilian government to be more transparent. And everyone welcomes this change. If there are excellent working conditions for companies, everyone will work harder,” said country manager Min Tala Nyan of Ball, a US company based in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone.