Recent fighting has forced trucks to suspend operations on the Kutkai and Muse road section, leading to a halt in trade on the Mandalay-Muse Road. As a result, trade has cooled at the Mandalay commodity depot, according to traders.
Some merchants have bought goods at the Mandalay depot for K3,000-5,000 lower than the market price, in order to send them to the border market when the traffic returns to normal on the road, said U Myo Swe, the chair of the Mandalay Commodity Depot.
“The market has cooled down due to the closure of the road. Some have taken the risk to send goods across the closed road by paying high transportation fees. The price of sesame is falling. Green gram prices have remained unchanged. The market is cooling,” he said.
The security condition is uncertain on the Kutkai and Muse road section, which is used to export goods to China. Therefore, Mandalay merchants have not been able to send goods to the Muse border market. On 25 August, green grams were priced at K95,000-113,000 per bag and black sesame (Samone variety) was fetching K280,000 per bag in the market.
“Hopefully, we will get a good price when the road is reopened. The market has lesser supply of green grams for now. The price is also on the low side. I bought them at a lower price to export them at another time,” said U Min Aung from Sinmin depot.
Following the closure of the road, the prices of green grams, black sesame seeds, and peanuts have declined by K3,000-5,000 compared to earlier. — Khine Set Wai
(Translated by Ei Myat Mon)
