Myanmar has experienced a sequence of dire crises beginning in 2019 including the unexpected closure of a principal trade route, COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions, and a military coup leading to years of disruptions in the banking and tra

In August 2023, we surveyed 388 active rice millers from 13 states and regions across Myanmar to learn more about the impacts of the current political and COVID-19 crises.

To understand the effects of political instability and related shocks on Myanmar’s agricultural input sector, we conducted a phone survey of 187 input retailers throughout the country in August 2023.

Key Findings

Myanmar’s agrifood system has proven surprisingly resilient in the face of multiple crises—COVID 19, the military coup, economic mismanagement, global price instability, and widespread conflict—with respect to production and exports.

The pulse sector in Myanmar has emerged as a crucial income source for farmers during the triple crisis, driven by increased export demand and domestic consumption, as well as reduced production costs and irrigation requirements.

To document changes in the mid-stream of Myanmar’s food value chains, a phone survey of commodity traders was conducted in April 2023 with a sample of 304 traders in 14 states and regions.

Key Findings

The large majority of extreme poor in the world lives in fragile states.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization that comprises seven nations, five of which are from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka) and two from Sout

We assess the status and effects of the twin crises (COVID-19 and the military coup) on different segments (production, trade, and consumption) of Myanmar’s food processing sector.

Crop traders are important actors in the mid-stream of Myanmar’s food supply chains serving as the essential link between farms and food processors, exporters, commodity exchange centers, and urban food markets.

Agri-food exports are important for Myanmar’s economic takeoff, in particular for the transformation of agri-food systems.

Over the last decade, farms in Myanmar have gone through important market transitions.

This Research Note presents the results from an assessment of output markets and crop prices in Myanmar after the monsoon of 2021.

Crop traders comprise the mid-stream of Myanmar’s food supply chain and serve as the essential link between farms and food processors, exporters, commodity exchange centers, and urban food markets.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization which came into being in 1997.

This Research Note presents the results from an assessment of the evolution of vegetable oil prices in Myanmar.

Globally, India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses, but increasing demand due to population growth has made the country reliant on imports, including from Myanmar. In turn, Myanmar is highly dependent on exports to India.

COVID-19-related trade disruptions hit several sectors in Myanmar as early as January 2020, but it was the appearance of the country’s first cases in March 2020 and the subsequent lockdown in April that really hurt the economy.