CNI News
27 August 2022
The Myanmar Rice Federation will implement a reserve rice project to regulate the increase in domestic rice prices and negotiations are underway with exporters.
Currently, negotiations are still ongoing so we cannot say for sure how the reserve rice process will be done, said U Aung Myint, secretary of Myanmar Rice Traders Association to CNI news agency.
U Aung Myint said, "I can't say whether such things will be bought separately. Next, I still don't know how to get the budget. Not available at this time. You can only buy it when the new rice comes out. Before, these exporters kept them. They sell it back with a price when it is necessary. Now the prices are not set yet.
While seeing the act of plowing
This is the time when the price is very high. When it is very high, the price is likely to rise again if you buy in the market that is kept for reserve rice. Whether to buy from new or not, those are still being negotiated. Only a little control can be done. We can only control a little when the price is too high.
If we have in-stock and sell it when the price is too high, we would be adding more supply to the market thereby easing the demand a little. The price often goes down when the new rice appears. The farmers can get a bit better price when we buy it at that time.
In Myanmar, July, August and September are the time when the old rice is about to run out and the time of release for the new rice. Therefore, even though the domestic rice prices have risen every year, this year it will rise more, he said.
The reason for this increase is due to the skyrocketing prices of agricultural inputs caused by the rising price of dollar and the falling price of Burmese currency as well as due to the market manipulation of the traders, said agriculture and economic adviser Ko Zaw Min Naing to CNI news agency.
Ko Zaw Min Naing said, “The only main place to rely on for rice production here is Irrawaddy. Depending on the situation, there can be a market play of rice traders. The current situation is the traders playing the market to the rising dollar price. This is because the rice that is available now is what was produced last year, so the current situation is not yet a shortage.
But next year, there will be no production of rice which will cause the price to go up, thereby paving the way for a shortage of rice. After reducing the export, then we get domestic rice self-sufficiency. I believe that we have to focus on the reserve rice again. Although we are getting export earning from rice, I think it will be necessary to put restrictions when it comes to the importance of domestic rice self-sufficiency.
Threshing rice
Currently, the price of rice is rising, so the reserve rice is being sold with a price lower than the market price. The remaining reserve rice being sufficient for domestic consumption makes it possible to export rice abroad, said U Aung Myint, secretary of the Rice Traders Association, to CNI News.
He said, “If this export goes up, the rice stock may be low. This year is not too much, too. Rice export is normal, so there is rice left over. Domestically. The purchase rate of rice is high at the end of July and in August. It’s high enough for everyone to eat.
Since people who used to buy for one month bought for two months now, the transaction is a little thin now. Rice prices stopped a little at this height. The prices of all other products are going up. The price of rice is not probably going to rise again,” he said.
At the present, there are price differences in the local rice markets depending on the area and the difficulty in transportation. Each bag of Shwebo Porsan and Porsan have prices of more than 90000 kyats and 60000 kyats respectively.
