Traders predict paddy prices likely to drop by 10% in early 2024

With the abundant supply during the harvest season, paddy prices this month are expected to be 10 per cent lower than the prices recorded last month, traders forecast.
The price of non-premium rice is up by K2,000 per sack in the first week of January, whereas the price of new Ayeyawady Pawsan is down by K2,000 per sack.
Along with the dips in new rice prices, Pawsan paddy prices are forecast to stay below K3 million per 100 baskets, which is 10 per cent lower than the prices registered in December 2023.
The paddy prices are expected to be around K2.5 million per 100 baskets for the Pawkywe variety and below K2 million for the non-premium paddy variety. “We will see the market condition vividly in mid-January”, U Soe Tin farming paddy on 20 acres of paddy in Bogale Township shared his opinion with The Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
Before the 2023 paddy cultivation season, the related non-governmental organization has already notified the 2023 paddy reference prices and issued reasonable market prices for the rice. Yet, the actual market value is higher than the reasonable market prices.
The reference paddy prices for 2023 were set at K1.3 million to 1.5 million per 100 baskets of non-premium paddy and K1.5 million to K2 million for Pawsan paddy.
In early December 2023, the paddy prices hit a high of K2 million per 100 baskets of non-premium paddy, K2.5-K2.6 million for Pawkywe and K3.2 million, U Thein Wai, a rice seller told the GNLM.
The consumers raised concerns over the possible rice price hikes like the events in the past two years.
There are 14.99 million acres of 2023 monsoon paddy and 11.7 million acres of paddy have been harvested as of early January 2024. The rice stock volume is estimated at 5.484 million tonnes in early January. — TWA/KK