ALTHOUGH they have received orders from abroad to purchase bamboo shoots, bamboo craft expert U Kyaw Win stated that they are not yet able to export sufficient quantities because the domestic market is currently fetching good prices.
In the domestic market, the price for raw bamboo shoots, which was only a few hundred kyats per viss in previous years, has now increased by about three times.
“Last year, it was only K600 or K700. Now, just in the domestic market, the price for cut and whole bamboo shoots is K1,800 to K2,000. Fermented bamboo shoots can yield at least K5,000 to K6,000. So, the market is already good in terms of price and is commercially viable. There are buyers available. The domestic market itself seems to be expanding,” he said.
In addition to the domestic market, entrepreneurs are making small-scale exports to countries like China, Thailand, and Japan. Furthermore, although there are offers from the United States to purchase bamboo shoots, they are not yet able to widely export to foreign countries.
“Regarding the foreign market, there are orders from places like Japan, China, and Korea, and entrepreneurs are exporting. And we have also received orders from the USA to buy bamboo shoots for a long time. They want boiled bamboo shoots, but we don’t have enough raw materials. The buyers are already waiting, but we can’t export yet,” U Kyaw Win said.
Similarly, since the market for bamboo and its products is also thriving, it is necessary to increase small-scale cultivation of bamboo plants, bamboo entrepreneurs said. — MT/ZN
