Red pigeon peas price rose from K2,278,000 per tonne on 17 March 2023 to K2.4 million per tonne on 18 March.
Similarly, a tonne of black gram dropped below K2 million on 20 September 2022, and bounced back to above K2 million on 17 and 18 March 2023, trading 85 containers of black gram weighing 2,040 tonnes during these two days.
In the Yangon pulses market, a tonne of black gram RC and SQ/RC were priced at K2,008,000 and K2,293,000 on 17 March, and K2,049,000 and K2,334,000 on 18 March.
Although transaction prices have risen in the Yangon pulses market, the foreign currency exchange rate is high, and the price of a tonne of exported FOB pulses is still around USD900 for pigeon peas and around USD800 for black gram (RC). Pigeon peas (red) price on 18 March 2023 is the highest price in the term of the pigeon pea market currently.
Due to the needs of India, which mainly imports Myanmar beans and pulses, Myanmar is allowed to export until the financial year 2025-2026. In 2015, the black gram price hit the record high in India, resulting more yield of pulses after that. Thus, beans and pulses imports from foreign countries into India were temporarily closed in mid-August 2017 until the end of March 2018.
Because of that, there were some days in the Yangon pulses market where the prices of black gram and red pigeon peas dropped to between K300,000 and K400,000 per tonne at the end of 2017 and before mid-2018. After around five years, black gram and red pigeon peas earned six-and eight-fold the lowest prices, a beans and pulses price analyst stated.
Therefore, there is a need to encourage the cultivation of domestic beans and pulses as well as paddy and oil crops. — TWA/CT