The early yielding black beans from Madaya region have caused a price hike in Mandalay market for 2021 variety bean season, according to the Mandalay bean merchants.
“The black beans have been entering the market beginning from 1 December. The quality and production of black beans are also acceptable. Besides, the early produced black beans hit a price of K95,000 per bag (one bag contains three baskets) this year, up from K80,000 per pack compared to that of the same period in last year,” said U Soe Win Myint (Soe Win Myint brokerage) from Mandalay.
“Black bean is Myanmar’s export item, and the sale of the black bean is heavily reliant upon India. That’s the reason why the price of black bean in Myanmar depends upon the movement of India bean market. India has been restricting the purchase of Myanmar’s black bean since 2018. At that time, the local pulses growers faced the declining price of black bean — K40,000 per bag. However, the local growers are now happy with a hiking price of black bean — K125,000 per pack this year,” he explained.
“Now, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India has issued a 150,000-tonne import quota for black bean for those who have export licences in Myanmar. These licenced exporters have a chance to export until March 2021,” he added.
Although China has been buying Myanmar’s black bean for the past four years, the Chinese bean traders stopped buying black bean when the black bean price mounted.
The black bean started growing in August in the middle region of Myanmar and is highly harvested in January. The bean also yields a lot in February and March in the lower areas of Myanmar such as Ayeyawady, Yangon and Bago regions.
Min Htet Aung (Sub-Man Printing House)
(Translated by Hay Mar)
