Singapore’s Yoma and METRO join hands for wholesale distribution in Myanmar

A new entity, METRO Wholesale Myanmar Ltd aims to “address the evolving needs of the local professional customers” for those who demand quality supplies.

Yoma Strategic will hold a 15 per cent stake in the new business and the remaining 85 per cent will be taken by METRO.

“METRO Myanmar will leverage on METRO’s procurement capabilities and Yoma Strategic’s existing logistics, warehousing and fleet leasing businesses to fast track its growth,” as mentioned in the release.

METRO Myanmar is looking at improving the whole supply chain in the country.

They will be offering more than 3,300 food an non-food items to customers like hotels, restaurants and independent small retailers.

In Myanmar, retailers need to source their products in different ways from local distributors and importers and METRO is looking at creating a one-stop wholesale distribution platform. One popular wholesale center is named as Gandamar wholesale and is said to be supported by military backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. We are confident that our partnership with METRO will bring global know-how in modern wholesale distribution and contribute to bringing reliable and safe food to the people in Myanmar,” said Melvyn Pun, CEO of Yoma Strategic.

The wholesale and food specialist company operates in 35 countries with sales reaching about Euro 37 billion in 2015-16.

Their B2B wholesale division METRO Cash & Carry serves across Europe and Asia to hotels, restaurants, small retail and catering firms. Just in recent years, they started to upgrade their competence in the hospitality industry, specifically, in the food service distribution work.