An Update on the Impact of International Sanctions on Myanmar’s Forest Sector
Four Years Since the Coup
By Forest Trends View PublicationOur latest briefing, An Update on the Impact of International Sanctions on Myanmar’s Forest Sector: Four Years Since the Coup, builds on Forest Trends’ 2025 report, Timber, Sanctions, and Conflict: Myanmar’s Forest Sector Since the Coup. While the earlier report tracked trade through mid-2024, this new analysis incorporates the latest official data and examines evolving trade routes, market dynamics, and governance conditions in Myanmar’s forest sector and how it has been impacted by the sanctions.
Since the February 2021 coup, importing countries have reported more than US$1.45 billion in the import of forest product from Myanmar. This is an increase of more than US$185 million since mid-2024 (as reported in Forest Trends’ last assessment). These figures reflect only trade reported by officials in importing countries, and do not include illicit or unreported flows. The briefing notes that the military junta reports one-third less trade; such discrepancies are consistent with smuggling or under-reporting to evade taxes.
While countries that have imposed sanctions now report minimal direct imports, trade remains concentrated in a small number of markets. The analysis finds that trade flows increasingly transit through China, complicating traceability and raising questions about sanction evasion.