We won an award for the best rice strain of the year

Bangkok - Myanmar has won an award for the best rice strain of the year, edging out Thailand's jasmine rice for the first time, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported Wednesday.
Myanmar's Parel Rice was named the winner at the World Rice Conference 2011 hosted by Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, the FAO reported.
'Known locally as Paw San Fragrant Rice, Parel Rice scored 14 out of a possible 15 points in the competition to edge out Thailand's world-renowned Jasmine Fragrant Rice by 0.25 points,' it said.
After the Second World War, Myanmar was the world's largest rice export, but Thailand claimed the top slot a few years after its neighbour adopted a socialist system and nationalized all farms and rice mills in 1962.
Thailand has been the world's leading rice exporter for the past five decades, shipping out 11 million tons last year and an expected 10.5 million in 2011.
Myanmar's new government that took office in April, has showed signs of easing up on the private sector and encouraging exports.
'After decades of inward-looking economic policies, Myanmar has once again begun exporting rice and recently put a moratorium on an export tax to help increase rice sales overseas,' the FAO noted.
Its rice exports this year have been undermined by fluctuations of the kyat currency.
'The price of rice in Myanmar tumbled by 18.3 per cent during October as local producers released more stocks onto the domestic market because currency fluctuations made exporting less competitive,' the UN agency said in its monthly review.