Pyin U Lwin - Economy

Economy

Sweater knitting, flower and vegetable gardens, strawberry and pineapple orchards, coffee plantations and cow rearing are the main local businesses. There has been an influx of Chinese immigrants (especially from Yunnan) in recent years. The city is a resort town for visitors from Myanmar's major cities during the summertime and a popular stop for foreign tourists during the winter season.

Established in 1915, the National Botanical Gardens and the adjacent Pyin Oo Lwin Nursery are famous attractions of Pyin Oo Lwin. The beautifully created national garden and the new National Landmarks Gardens are unique. A 4-acre (16,000 m2) orchid garden is planned for 2007.

Today, Pyin Oo Lwin is particularly noted for four centres of national economic importance. It is the centre of sericulture (silkworm rearing). The Sericulture Research Centre, near the National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens, conducts three distinct roles: the intensive planting and harvesting of mulberry trees (leaves for the silk worms, bark for handmade paper), the rearing of the actual silkworms, and the reeling of the silk from the cocoons. It has a large research centre for indigenous medicinal plants. And it has one of the country's few pharmaceutical production facilities.

In addition, Pyin Oo Lwin is the centre of the country's principal flower and vegetable production. The most important flowers grown intensively are chrysanthemum, aster and gladiolus, which are exported to every corner of Myanmar throughout the year. Lastly, Pyin Oo Lwin is the centre of Myanmar's rapidly growing coffee industry. A number of factories in the town process coffee beans for country-wide distribution, with a growing amount now prepared for export.