Foreign Post cancellation, Yangon-CME postmark

Recently, I have travelled to Myanmar and send some covers to Singapore.  When the letters arrives back to me, I notice that Myanmar Post used two new postmarks on the covers.  The best example is the cover sent from Nyaung Oo post office (Fig 1), it was struck with Nyaung Oo PO postmark on 5^th Jan, new Foreign Post postmark of Yangon on 8^th Jan and Yangon-CME mark dated 8^th Jan.  

Fig 1: Two new postmarks on the stamp

"Foreign Post" postmark (Fig 2) seems to be the replacement of old "Foreign Air Mail" postmark (Fig 3).  "Foreign Post" mark is in a double circle format; the date shown in the center with two stars on the sides.  It is struck in blue, except the date in red.  Its outer diameter is about 4 cm and inner circle is about 2.8 cm.  It is usually struck on the stamp.  Another never seen mark is "Yangon CME" mark (Fig 4), usually struck on the back of the cover.  CME here stands for Central Mail Exchange, which used to be known as Sorting.  "Yangon-CME" mark is struck in black.  Its format is a double circle with the date in the center.  Its outer diameter is around 3.5 cm and inner diameter is around 2.5 cm.  

Fig 2: Foreign Post mark

Fig 3: Foreign Air Mail postmark

Fig 4: Yangon-CME postmark

It is not found on the covers sent from the Mayangon Post Office and Bayint Naung Market Post Office which are in Yangon region.  I found these marks on the covers sent from Nyaung Oo, Bagan, Pyin Oo Lwin, and Chaung Thar Post Offices.

To reference this article, please cite:

Toe Kyaw Kyar, "New issues and developments: Foreign Post cancellation, Yangon-CME postmark", The Burma Fantail, Vol. 12, No. 2, Whole Number 44, pp. 20-21, April 2015.