With foreign and domestic demand faltering, the trading activity of Mandalay commodity depot slowed down.

New peanuts from the Aunglan and Myinmu areas are flowing into the Mandalay market at present.

The prevailing prices move in the range between K6,550 and K8,000 per viss in the domestic market, depending on varieties.

The prices hit a high of K7,550-11,000 per viss on the back of strong foreign and do­mestic demand on 18 August 2023.

Myanmar has been export­ing oil seeds (sesame seeds and peanuts) to foreign countries. In April 2022, the world’s top palm oil exporter, Indonesia, which is one of the leading oil suppliers to Myanmar, declared an ex­port ban on cooking oil export to reduce domestic shortage. Consequently, Myanmar’s Trade Department under the Minis­try of Commerce temporarily suspended exports of oil crops (peanut and sesame) from 9 May 2022 in order to have oil self-sufficiency.

Exports of Myanmar’s ed­ible oil crops resumed as the world’s top palm oil exporters returned to normalcy, according to a notification dated 5 July 2022 released by the Trade De­partment.

The country exported over 14,900 kilogrammes of peanuts worth US$21.066 million to for­eign markets through seaborne and land borders over the past ten months of the current finan­cial year 2023-2024. — NN/EM