Soybean price rises on steady demand

The strong demand from border markets hikes up soybean price to K80,100 per 60-viss bag (a viss equals to 1.6 kg).
The soybean stood only at K68,550 per bag in January-end. The high foreign demand drove the price up to above K80,000 per bag in early June.
Normally, Myanmar sends soybeans to China through Muse border post. In addition to Chinese market, Myanmar’s soybeans are also sold out to Thailand to a small extent. It is also shipped to India through maritime trade. Soybeans are used for oil, animal feed and other non-food industrial products.
The biggest challenge of Myanmar’s soybean production was the decline in number of soybean sawn acreage in the previous years. Between 2013-2014FY-2018-2019FY, over 40,000 acres of soybean farms dropped. Quality seeds play a pivotal role in soybean production, extraction of oil from soybean and value-added production.
Myanmar’s soybean sector needs technical support for pre-harvest diseases and post-harvest losses, along with market exploration.
The growers turn to soybean due to the market potentials. There are over 360,000 acres of soybean in Myanmar in the 2019-2020 financial year, which is up from over 340,000 acres registered in the 2018-2019 FY.
Myanmar’s soybean export is remarkably increasing year over year. The country exported over 1,700 tonnes of soybean in 2016, 2,000 tonnes in 2017, over 7,000 tonnes in 2018-2019 Fiscal Year. —KK/GNLM