In the rising price of most goods in the domestic kitchen goods market, sugar, jaggery and brown slab sugar have remained at high prices except for the tamarind, said sugar, jaggery and brown slab-sugar dealers.
According to the Yangon Market on 29 October, the wholesale prices of sugar, jaggery of NyaungU added with chemicals, jaggery mixed with materials added with chemicals, jaggery from the Mahlaing area, raw jaggery from Pakokku, bleached jaggery from Yesagyo and brown sugar are K2,550 per viss (a viss equals 1.6 kilogrammes), K3,700 per viss, K2,550 per viss, K3,200 per viss, K3,350 per viss, K3,850 per viss and K2,725 per viss, respectively.
Steamed sugar, clean sugar, the solution from the cleaning mill and the solution from the steamed mill are priced at K2,450 per viss, K2,150 per viss, K1,850 per viss and K1,150 per viss in the Mandalay Sugar Market respectively. The wholesale price of sugar in the Yangon market fell to between K2,480 and K2,500 per viss on 21 October from the previous price of K2,550 per viss. However, a rumour got out on the night of the same day leading to rising prices of goods and temporary sale closures on 22 October. Thus, the value of sugar had risen to K2,550 per viss again.
“New sugar may enter the market at the end of the year as domestic sugar mills will start operating in December. Currently, sugar in the market contained a little moisture in it. Thus, buyers are choosing to buy bags of sugar with low moisture content,” Ko Phyo, a sugar dealer, told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
Around 20 local sugar mills are concentrated in the eastern and western Bago and, Sagaing Regions, Shan State, Kachin State and Rakhine States. In the years before 2015, sugar produced by sugar mills in Bago Region sold well in the Yangon sugar market. From that time until now, sugar made by the sugar mill in Shan State has had the highest price in the market and is still popular in the market.
It is learnt that the price of sugar is still high despite near the sugar season, for massive sugar were being exported to Viet Nam and sugar mills with good reputation maintain their performance. In the domestic sugar market, the price of wholesale rose to K1,750 per viss in October 2010, which was the record sugar price until 2020.
In mid-2020, the sugar wholesale price dropped below K900 per viss. The price has risen again since 2021 and at the end of the year, the wholesale price reached over K2,000 per viss.
While the wholesale price of sugar was K2,550 per viss, the price of jaggery kicked off to around K4,000 per viss. The rate for brown slab sugar hit only below K3,000 per viss.
Meantime, in May 2020, the rate of sugar was K890 per viss and that of jaggery was at K1,600 per viss. The market price of sugar and jaggery was set at K2,020 per viss and K2,150 per viss respectively, according to record prices.
Therefore, it is reported that the price of jaggery is still higher than sugar in some markets. — TWA/GNLM
