The prices of sugar and jaggery hit fresh new peaks in Yangon’s commodity market.
The wholesale prices of jaggery rose to a record high of K3,950-K4,500 per viss depending on the producing areas (NyaungU, Yesakyo, Mahlaing and Pakokku). Sugar also fetched K3,600 per viss in the wholesale market.
Sugar price has been on an upward trend since 2021. Consequently, some sugar factories said that they would offer K110,000 per tonne at the end of 2023, increasing from K90,000 per tonne in 2022.
The jaggery price is so strong that it did not even dip when the sugar price fell. The jaggery price is higher than the sugar price. Jaggery from NyaungU is whiter in appearance while the ones from other regions have brown colour.
The price of cane sugar, refined sugar from sugarcane plants, is likely to be cheaper than those of jaggery and sugar in the coming cane sugar production season, trader U Hla Myint told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
High sugarcane prices prompted the growers to expand the plantations. The high yield of sugarcane is expected. Sugar mills will possibly ramp up production.
“Despite the potential increase in sugar production, there is nowhere to get any chance to boost jaggery production with palm trees being cut down amid the shortage of palm tree climbers,” the GNLM quoted Daw Khin Win who was involved in a jaggery business.
As a result of this, the jaggery price will go higher than that of sugar for sure.
However, when the sugar price soared in 2018 and 2019, the jaggery combo mixed with sugar was sold at K300-K400 cheaper than the organic one. If the price gap between the jaggery and sugar widens, the jaggery combo will flood in the market, U Win Aung, a jaggery trader, shared his opinion to the GNLM. — TWA/EM
