Washington, DC, 03 March 2026 — A new update from Forest Trends finds that international trade in forest products from Myanmar has slowed due in part to sanctions imposed by the United States (US), Canada, and European countries after the 2021 military coup.
The 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, the 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 they 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.
“Four years after the coup, sanctions alone have not halted Myanmar’s forest product trade,” said Kerstin Canby, Senior Director of Forest Trends’ Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance (FPTF) Initiative. “Without stronger enforcement, enhanced due diligence by buyers and financial institutions, and greater international coordination, the risk remains that timber revenues will continue to finance conflict and environmental harm.”
Indeed, buying from third countries like China, India, and Thailand expose importing companies and financial institutions to legal, financial, and reputational risks due to the sanctions, and worse, complicity in the war crime of pillage.
The findings come as Myanmar’s military government signed a five-year cooperation agreement with Russia in February 2026, deepening ties with a country that is itself subject to extensive US and European sanctions. As both governments operate under pressure from sanctions, continued access to foreign revenue, including from forest product exports via other countries, may help to sustain the regimes.
Forest Trends calls for strengthened sanctions implementation, improved trade transparency, and coordinated international action to prevent forest products from contributing to ongoing instability and ecological damage in Myanmar.
Download the full report, An Update on the Impact of International Sanctions on Myanmar’s Forest Sector: Four Years Since the Coup.
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Forest Trends works to conserve forests and other ecosystems through the creation and wide adoption of a broad range of environmental finance, markets, and other payment and incentive mechanisms.
Forest Trends’ Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative aims to promote policies which harness the power of market incentives for the legal, sustainable, and equitable trade in timber and other commodities harvested from forest landscapes.