YANGON’S rice market is expected to face sharp fluctuations in prices, demand and supply for the next several months in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

Rice traders at Yangon’s Bayintnaung Commodity Trading Centre said prices had started retreating from last month’s record highs as rice was brought in from the Ayeyarwady Delta region, but sales were cool.

“Rice transport from Ayeyarwady Division to Yangon mostly depends on waterways, and after the storm there was wreckage blocking the river,” said U Maung Naing, a rice trader at the centre.

He said this was one of the factors that led prices to increase dramatically, along with hoarding by some speculators.

“So far transportation is operating as usual and rice is coming on to the market regularly from the regions that weren’t affected by the storm,” he said. “Sales have decreased from normal levels, probably because of recent higher prices, but could bounce back as more rice comes to market in the coming weeks.”
He said sales had declined by about 75 percent from normal levels.

“Generally I sell about 30 bags of rice a day but currently daily sales are only seven or eight bags,” U Maung Naing said.

Prices of high-quality rice have decreased about 11pc while the price of standard-quality varieties has declined about 21pc since early June.

On June 18, a bag of high-quality rice (weighing 49 kilograms, or 108 pounds) sold wholesale in Bayintnaung for K40,000, and standard-quality rice was K19,000 a bag.

Dealers at the market also said although some parts of the Ayeyarwady Delta were severely damaged in the storm, rice stores elsewhere could compensate to some extent.

U Zeyar Soe, the owner of a rice warehouse at the centre, said standard-quality rice, the most popular variety with consumers, is now amply available in the market.

“I’m confident that there could be enough until the coming harvest in December,” he said.

Paddy for high-quality rice such as Pawsan, Pawkwe and Taungpyan has traditionally been planted only in the Ayeyarwady Delta area, but efforts are now being made to grow them in upper Myanmar, he said.

“If this is successful, more high-quality rice could be available in the coming harvest,” he said.

Traders at the market predicted that crop for the coming December harvest could amount to only about 40 to 50 percent of last year’s.