This report on the performance of the mining industry of Burma forms part of the worldwide minerals review in the 1991 edition of Minerals Yearbook of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. This useful report includes information about surveying, mapping, exploration, mineral exports and imports and the operations of mining companies, as well as a valuable five year tonnage table for all major mineral products. Most of Burma?s foreign trade is conducted on a barter basis and valued on an inflated currency exchange rate. In September 1991, the black-market exchange rate was Kyat 100 to US$ 1. This compares with an official average rate of Kyat 6.25 to US$1 in 1991. Based on this rate, total exports were valued at $421 million and imports at $649 million, a net trade deficit of $228 million in 1991. Burma is an agrarian-based economy, and naturally its principal exports are agricultural products. The value of base metals and ores exported totaled only $4.2 million in 1991. The most valuable mineral shipment is gemstones, which either are exported officially or are smuggled out of the country. Value data for these exports are not available. Imports are comprised of consumer and capital goods that are not manufactured locally.