Mandalay-based traders say they are now entirely dependent on Mongla, a town on the Myanmar-China border controlled by ethnic armed group the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), for access to the Chinese market.
Since the start of a major anti-junta offensive late last month, other border crossings in northern Shan State, including Muse and Chin She Haw, have been closed due to the conflict.
This has left traders in Myanmar’s second-largest city with no option but to use Mongla, a gateway that they say is far from ideal for their purposes.
“The road is not straight; it has a lot of twists and turns and hills. It’s actually quite dangerous for the driver and it takes at least 10 days to make the trip from Mandalay to Mongla,” said a woman who exports watermelons to China.
“But we have no other choice,” she added.
Mongla, the administrative centre of Shan State Special Area 4, is located at the end of a nearly 100km-long highway from regional hub Kengtung, in a remote border area opposite rural Mengla County in China’s Yunnan Province.
In addition to the extra time it takes, shipping goods through Mongla also means paying more in taxes, according to the watermelon exporter.
It now costs a total of 12,000 yuan (US$1,680) to send a 12-wheeled truck with a load of watermelons from Mandalay to China, she said.
Responding to such concerns, the NDAA announced last week that it would cut in half the amount it charged for goods passing through the gate under its control.
The group now requires exporters to pay 75 yuan ($10) per ton of watermelon that goes through the gate, down from 150 yuan prior to the announcement, the woman said.
Other traders in Mandalay say they have also reluctantly switched to using Mongla as their main transport route since the junta announced on November 8 that the Muse and Chin Shwe Haw border gates had been closed.
“The majority of us in Mandalay have started [using Mongla], but only as a last resort,” said one trader.
Myanmar has a total of 17 official border crossings with its neighbours China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. Most trade with China is done through Shan State, although there are also crossings in Kachin State.
Border trade, worth billions of dollars to Myanmar each year, has almost entirely halted due to instability caused by the February 2021 military coup. Only Thailand continues to see significant volumes of trade.
Although the NDAA is not part of the current conflict in northern Shan State, it is closely allied to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, one of three members of the Brotherhood Alliance that launched Operation 1027 against the regime on October 27.
The NDAA has seen tensions with Myanmar’s military in the past, after it refused to transform itself into a Border Guard Force under military command ahead of elections held in 2010.
The highway from Kengtung to Mongla was closed prior to the coup due to tensions with the United Wa State Army, but was reopened by the regime in late 2021.
