13.06.2025 (04:30 PM)

Malaysia-based Scientex Plastics, which employs around 130 people in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, will cease operations due to political and economic instability in the military-ruled country.

In 2017, Scientex formed a joint venture with Myanmar Smart Pack Industrial to invest in Daibochi Packaging Myanmar, a joint venture company. Scientex holds a 60 percent stake in the joint venture and has invested US$6.8 million.

The decision to cease operations in Myanmar was made in a report released by Scientex on June 9 this year, citing the challenges it has faced in the past few years due to political and economic instability and the lack of signs of improvement in the future.

“The group will continue to work to mitigate the operational and financial impact of the shutdown,” it said.

Revenue from the plastics manufacturing plant in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township will account for just 3.8 percent of Scientex’s total revenue in 2024.

A source close to the company told Myanmar Now that the factory was almost shut down and its workforce had to be cut by half after the military took power, as it was no longer allowed to import raw materials essential to the plastics industry.