Restrictions this month limiting exports to black and white sesame seeds have increased local supplies and helped bring prices down.

SESAME seed prices fell and local sales climbed in mid August with the arrival of new harvests from central Myanmar, traders at the Mandalay Commodity Centre said last week.

Prices began falling early in the month for red, brown, yellow and striped sesame seeds, dropping about 12 percent for all varieties except black and white sesame seeds for the export market, whose prices slipped marginally, traders said.

“In late July, demand from China was high and this caused prices of all varieties to increase sharply. But demand from China has decreased over the last three or four days, probably because the surge in orders late last month satisfied demand there to some extent,” U Tint Lwin, a Mandalay-based sesame seed trader, said on August 22.

“Still, local demand is high at the moment,” he added.

From the start of August the government restricted sesame seed exports to the black and the white varieties.

“The government restrictions on sesame seed exports have coincided with the arrival of new harvests and this caused prices to fall on the domestic market,” U Tint Lwin said.

On August 22, brown sesame seeds were K64,000 per 45-viss (72kg) bag, down from K72,500 a week earlier. Red sesame seeds were K61,000 a bag from K69,000 a week earlier while black sesame seeds were K97,000 a bag, down from K100,000. White sesame seeds were K90,000 a bag, down from K92,000 over the same period.

Market sources said that following the government’s export ruling most traders switched their focus to supplying the local market, leading to a doubling of turnover.

“Daily trading of sesame seeds at the centre this week is about 10,000 bags, up from 5000 two weeks ago,” Mandalay Commodity Centre vice chairman U Ko Ko Gyi said on August 22.

“Because prices are relatively low at the moment, this is a good opportunity for cooking oil producers,” he said.

Sesame seed oil has consequently become cheaper than palm oil, retailing in Mandalay for K2550 per viss on August 22, down from 2700 the previous week. Palm oil was K2650 per viss last week.

U Ko Ko Gyi estimated this season’s sesame seed harvest to be 20pc higher than last year's and said prices could continue to fall over coming months.

“Prices in the future mainly depend on how much farmers supply the market within a given time” and how much they store for future sales, he said.
About 70pc of sesame seeds grown in Myanmar are of the black and white varieties.