Price gaps for high-grade Pawsan paddies hit K100,000 per 100 baskets

There is a price difference of K100,000 between high-grade Pawsan paddy from the Shwebo area and those from the delta region.
On 12 December, newly harvested Pawsan paddy from the delta region (Wakema) was valued at K1,665,000 per 100 baskets (52 pounds in a basket), while the prices of Pawsan paddy from Shwebo areas moved in the range between K1,550,000-K1,700,000 per 100 baskets, according to NGO Pawsan Paddy Planters and Producers Association in Shwebo area.
Meanwhile, the price of old Shwebo Pawsan paddy hit the lowest of K2,500,000 and the highest of K2,630,000 per 100 baskets.
Around 333,942 acres of Pawsan paddy plantations are expected in the Shwebo area in 2023.
The new Pawsan rice in Shwebo fetched K55,000-65,000 per bag, whereas the old Pawsan rice was worth K85,000-94,000 per bag on 12 December 2022.
Old Pawsan rice from Shwebo areas touched a minimum of K70,000 per bag and a maximum of K98,000 per bag in the Yangon markets on 12 December 2022. Meanwhile, new Pawsan rice from the delta regions (Myaungmya, Pathein, Bogale and Mawgyun) were priced at K54,000-62,000 per bag and old ones were K63,000-68,000 per bag, according to Bayintnaung Wholesale Market’s data.
In early January 2022, the price gaps for new Pawsan rice from Shwebo and delta regions were not that different, with K43,000 for Pawsan rice from the Shwebo area and K45,000 for Myaungmya and Pathein areas.
When Pawsan rice prices were rocketing in Yangon markets, the price of Shwebo Pawsan rice surged to around K100,000 per bag. Meanwhile, the prices of Pawsan rice from delta regions (Pathein, Myaungmya) were only K70,000 per bag.
Experimental plantation of Shwebo Pawsan paddy was initiated in Bonlon village, Kyauktan Township, Yangon Region in the 1997-1998 Financial Year. Then, it earned a reputation as Shwebo Pawsan among consumers, according to an article published on 24 June 2019 by a Weekly Agriculture Journal.
The rice prices significantly soared in Yangon markets from mid-2022. Consequently, the prices of monsoon paddies (low-grade paddy and Pawsan paddy) are K500,000 higher than those of the year-ago period.
As a result of this, new Pawsan rice prices have also increased by K10,000 from the same period of the previous year.
Those traders working on a large scale keep the stocks in hand due to the low moisture content of the rice in summer. Therefore, the demand usually tends to rise in the mid-summer.
Shwebo Pawsan rice is also likely to flood the Yangon markets and they are always stored at warehouses in Yangon Port.
The prices of Shwebo Pawsan rice were exorbitantly high in August 2022, there were speculations about possible rice stocks (100,000 bags) in the Yangon market.—TWA/EMM