New entry to domestic market plummets chickpea price

The prices moved in the range between K180,000 and K205,000 per 56.25 visses on 1 December and fell to K170,000 and K183,000 per 56.25 visses depending on varieties on 21 December.
The figures showed a sharp drop of K10,000-K22,000 per 56.25 visses within three weeks.
New chickpeas from the Mandalay region started flowing into the Mandalay market. Newly harvested chickpeas will abundantly enter the market in end-January 2023, according to the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Merchants Association.
The country primarily cultivates paddy, corn, cotton, sugarcane, and various pulses and beans. Its second-largest production is pulses and beans, accounting for 33 per cent of agricultural produce and covering 20 per cent of sown acreage. Among them, black beans, pigeon peas and green grams constitute 72 per cent of bean acreage. Other beans including peanuts, chickpeas, soybeans, black-eyed beans, butter beans and rice beans are also grown in the country.
Myanmar’s agriculture sector is the backbone of the country’s economy and it greatly contributes to the Gross Domestic Product.
Myanmar ships chickpeas to foreign markets beyond self-sufficiency.  More than 18,000 kilogrammes of chickpea worth US$12.678 million have been exported to foreign countries since April 2022, according to the Ministry of Commerce’s statistics. — NN/EMM