Kitchen crops market becomes sluggish despite high prices

Although the prices of rice, onion, Shan garlic, potato, chilli pepper and sugar edged up in the Bayintnaung market between 16 and 22 June, the demand is pretty low in the rainy season. Rice and chilli pepper markets are especially sluggish, said Ko Hla Han, a seller on Seinpan Street, Yangon.
The prices of rice are on the rise in the Bayintnaung market, yet the demand from the regions outside Yangon is quite low. As a result of this, the commodity depot owners find it hard to pay daily wages of K8,000-9,000.
The prices of broken rice increased from K30,500 to K33,500 per bag. The rice prices stood at K55,000-K63,000 per bag for Shwebo Pawsan, K54,000 for Pathein-Myaungmya Pawsan, K51,000 for Pyapon Pawsan and K40,000 for Pawkywe variety. The prices at retail shops are K4,000-5,000 higher than those prices in the Bayintnaung market due to free transport costs and other services, said Ma Myint Myint, a local in Kyauktada Township.
On 15 June, the wholesale price of onion (large size) was K2,100 per viss (a viss equals 1.6 kilogrammes), thereafter, the price slightly fell to K1,800 per viss. The medium-sized onion was priced at K1,400-1,900 per viss in the Monywa wholesale market on 22 June.
Onions produced in Pyawbwe fetched K1,150-1,750 per viss. What a surprising event is that there is no entry of popular Seikphyu onions into the Yangon market for three consecutive days.
Newly harvested garlic (Kyukok) produced in Shan State was valued at K2,700-2,725 per viss, while garlic (Aungban) was valued at K2,300-3,900 depending on the different sizes.
The wholesale prices of Chinese potatoes move in the range of K1,700-1,800 per viss. The price soared from K1,450 per viss on 18 June. Chinese potatoes are of high quality and there is little chance of potato rot.
The prices of long chilli pepper stood at K7,000-8,000 per viss depending on the varieties on 15 June, while Moehtaung chilli pepper in cold storage fetched up to K8,000. Paprika was worth around K9,500-10,000 per viss. On 22 June, the price tremendously jumped to K8,500 for long chilli pepper and K8,500-9,000 for Moehtaung chilli pepper variety. Nevertheless, the demand for chilli pepper declined in the market, a depot owner said.
On 22 June, the prices of sugar were relatively high to K2,230 per viss from K2,170 recorded on 13 June, while imported sugar price rose to K2,400 per viss. Tamarind price was stable at a high of K2,400-3,500 per viss, said Ko Kar, a tamarind depot owner.
Meanwhile, the palm oil price dropped again to 4,850 MYR. On 21 June, the wholesale price of imported palm oil was K7,200-7,400 per viss and K6,900 per 10 viss in Yangon, said Ko Kyaw Paing, a trader from the Nyaungpinlay market.
On 16 June, the price of black gram (FAQ/RC) was K1,570,000 per tonne and pigeon peas (red gram) were offered at K1,410,000 per tonne. On 22 June, the newly harvested black gram prices significantly climbed to K1,616,000 per tonne, while the pigeon price moved to K1,387,000 per tonne. — TWA/GNLM