Prices soar to all-time high in Myanmar’s northernmost district

Residents of the town of Putao, Kachin State say they can no longer afford fuel and food as roadblocks due to ongoing battles have cut off shipments and driven up prices since last month. Putao is a district-level administrative seat less than 100 kilometres from Myanmar’s northern borders with India and China. Both the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have restricted unauthorised travel on the road between Putao and Myitkyina, the state’s capital, since fighting broke out in Sumprabum Township—some 50 miles south of Putao—in early March. The Myanmar military has now been blocking the transport of needed commodities into Putao for three months, continuing to enforce the ban after a KIA-led alliance seized full control of Sumprabum in May. A petrol container currently sells for 80,000 kyat in Putao, while basic commodities such as rice, salt, and cooking oil have become unaffordable, extremely scarce, or even impossible to get, Putao residents said. “We’re only able to buy locally grown rice. Even then, we can’t buy as much as we need,” a local woman in her 30s said. “The prices are at an all-time high as well. Shipments into the town have stopped completely and we can’t get anything we need even if we have the money.” One pyi or bucket of rice, a volume equivalent to about 2.6 litres, currently costs around 150,000 kyat (US $71)—at least three times higher than prices for the same quantity in Yangon and Mandalay. “Things have changed a lot since the coup. A litre of petrol used to cost 1,000 kyat but now a litre bottle of oil costs 80,000 to 100,000 kyat,” a local woman said. “And even then, only one or two places in town are selling it.” Families unable to afford rice have had to resort to eating porridge, according to a man living in Putao. “The majority of the town-dwellers don’t grow their own food, so it’s especially difficult for them to get rice, even if they have the money. And transportation has become especially difficult,” the local man said. He added that his own family has been unable to afford to shop in the market for two months and has had to rely on the produce they could grow. Other locals said the military has been selling off airdropped food supplies in Putao at a steep mark-up, but that few residents could afford to buy from them. According to these Putao residents, the military was selling small packages of instant noodles for 5,000 kyat (US $2.40) each, crates of 360 eggs at 350,000 kyat (US $167) each, and 10-viss (17 kg) containers of cooking oil at 200,000 kyat (US $95) each. Locals also claim that although people were accustomed to using motorcycles in Putao, the scarcity of petrol had made this impossible for most residents. Farmers were even forced to stop using tractors, they said, and those who did not own oxen or cattle had to rely on their own strength to do their farming. While the military has been selling petrol to farmers in rationed amounts, not all of them could afford it, and petrol stations in the town have closed after their supplies ran out, locals said. Some Putao residents said they travelled to an Indian border crossing some 30 miles away to buy fuel and bring it back to the city for resale. Others with the means to travel by air relocated to Myitkyina, Mandalay, or Yangon. Poorer residents, on the other hand, have had no choice but to remain in Putao to contend with shortages and soaring prices.

Prices soar to all-time high in Myanmar’s northernmost district

While some residents have left Putao, Kachin State due to extreme shortages, the town’s poorest residents have had to remain and face the scarcity and steeply rising cost of staple goods

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