Fresh tamarind price on downward trend despite steady foreign demand

Falling prices of fresh tamarind persist although the institution concerned notified the businesspersons in early June that foreign trade partners proposed to buy 500 tonnes of fresh tamarind every month.
Despite the inflation of commodities in the domestic markets, the price of tamarind showed a downward trajectory from 2022 to mid-2023.
The prices moved in the range between K1,300 and K1,400 per viss of tamarind with seeds and K2,100 and K2,400 per viss of tamarind flesh on 20 June 2023.
The prices touched a high of K2,100-2,200 per viss of tamarind with seeds and K2,800-3,800 per viss of tamarind flesh in 2022.
Tamarinds are primarily produced in Yamethin, Kyaukpadaung, Poppa, Pakokku and Myanaung areas. The entrepreneurs from the tamarind-producing areas forecast the possibility of good prices in 2022. Yet, the prediction went wrong and the price stayed low.
Traders from those areas kept the tamarind stocks in hand as they hoped to receive better prices on foreign demand. However, the purchase proposal has not been accepted up to for now, according to the tamarind depots at the Bayintnaung Wholesale Centre.
The price of fresh tamarind dropped to K700 in mid-2023 from K1,350 per viss recorded at the beginning of the year. Five months remain for the new tamarind to enter the market. There is less chance for the price to rise, said a seller involved in the tamarind depot on Seinpan Street (Bayintnaung) — TWA/EM