After imposing fixed prices for rice and cooking oil in June, Myanmar’s military regime has begun extending price controls to eggs and meat, threatening to arrest for retailers who fail to comply, according to grocery store owners.
A store owner in Yangon told The Irrawaddy: “Officials from the consumer affairs department checked grocery stores in my ward last week. They warned us not to overprice and cautioned that military intelligence officials disguised as consumers will be checking up on us. This time, they are controlling even the price of eggs.”
Municipal authorities have set the price of 10 eggs at 3,600-3,700 kyats (US$1.70-$1.76) in Yangon townships. Junta officials have cautioned retailers not to exceed those prices, he said.
However, the wholesale price of eggs is currently 20 kyats higher than the retail price, he added.
“For now, I have stopped selling eggs. We price eggs depending on the size. I buy from the wholesaler at 390 kyats per egg, so I can’t sell at 370 kyats.”
Other grocery stores had also halted egg sales, he said.
“It’s the same with rice. But as rice is listed as an essential commodity, we can get into bigger trouble if we sell it at higher prices.”
The regime is also registering fish farms in preparation for imposing price controls on fish, according to merchants.
Additionally, local authorities in Yangon recently instructed butchers not to sell mutton for more than 32,000 kyat per viss (1.63 kg), warning that their shops would be closed if they do not comply.
“The regime offers eggs [at fixed prices], but they are small,” a housewife in Yangon’s North Dagon Township said. “Junta officials have yet to warn about price controls on eggs in my township, where an egg costs 400 to 500 kyats. But despite the controls, prices keep increasing. Low-grade rice now costs 4,700 kyats per pyi [2 kg] in the market.
A junta warning about overpricing at Yangon’s Wardan wholesale rice hub has led merchants there to halt sales to retailers and sell only among themselves, a merchant reported.
In Yangon, the price for low-grade rice set by the regime is a few thousand kyats lower than the market price, while the gap for premium rice is as high as 40,000 to 50,000 kyats per 48kg sack.
Junta attempts to control the market are undermining the economy and severely impacting market conditions, said an economist.
“The socialist system practiced in Myanmar was flawed and inferior to that in other countries. The current regime is the worst of all. The regime officially claims to have a market economy, but in reality they operate according to the whims of authoritarian rule. The military dictatorship is mismanaging the country and continues to commit the same mistakes rather than learning from bad results,” he said.
The regime’s price-fixing policy drew international attention in June when a Japanese executive of supermarket chain Aeon Co. was arrested in Yangon and sentenced to one year in prison for selling overpriced rice.
