Price fluctuation of Kyukok garlic surpasses Shan garlic

The market price of Kyukok garlic is beating that of Shan garlic in the domestic garlic market. Although there is a price gap of around K4,000 per viss (a viss equals 1.6 kilogrammes) in Kyukok garlic, the price of Shan garlic has ranged between the minimum of K3,000 and the maximum of K4,200 per viss in 2022. Changes in the Shan garlic price are not visible despite the wild fluctuation of the Kyukok garlic price in 2022.
The domestic market is mainly dealing in garlic from Shan State and Kyukok garlic entering from the border. There is Bamar garlic in the Mandalay market. However, the yield is very low and only available in the region of its origin.
Two types of Shan garlic are garlic from Taunggyi and garlic from Aungban. The price of Aungban garlic is a little higher than that of Taunggyi garlic and has a great demand in the Yangon market. Kyukok garlic entering from the border has a bigger size than the big garlic from the Shan State and it has earned a strong market share for two decades, Ko Myint Aye, a dealer in the Bayintnaung market told the GNLM.
In the years when Kyukok garlic started to enter the garlic market, it had to compete with Shan garlic for the market share for a few years, a dealer commented.
Shan garlic is difficult to peel even though its quality surpassed Kyukok garlic. Thus, Kyukok garlic is widely used in restaurants and is able to capture its market share.
On 10 January 2022, the wholesale price of Aungban garlic from Shan State reached K1,500-K3,000 per viss and that of Kyukok garlic fetched K4,800-K5,100 per viss.
New Shan garlic entered the Yangon market with K2,200-K2,900 per viss on 13 February. On the same day, the old Shan garlic was priced at K1,200-K3,000 per viss and Kyukok garlic at K3,800-K3,900 per viss.
The price of Kyukok garlic started to rise in March 2022 and hit a record high of K6,700-K7,000 per viss on 9 March. Meanwhile, the wholesale price of Shan garlic was only K2,700-K3,700 per viss.
The Kyukok garlic price dropped starting in April. The price drop continued on 2 June, the day when new Kyukok garlic entered the market, with K2,700 per viss of new Kyukok garlic and K2,800 per viss of old Kyukok garlic. The wholesale price of Shan garlic fetched K1,800-K3,500 per viss on that day.
On 2 July, the market price of Shan garlic and Kyukok garlic ranged between K2,200-K3,700 per viss and K2,600-K2,800 per viss. However, the prices of Kyukok garlic and Shan garlic soared to K5,000 per viss and K2,700-K4,200 per viss respectively on 1 September.
From that day onwards, the Kyukok garlic price slumps further and reached K3,300 per viss on 5 December. Shan garlic was pegged at K2,800-K3,900 per viss with little price change. Therefore, the Kyukok garlic price is high whereas the Shan garlic price is low in the domestic market. — TWA/CT