Thai-Myanmar border trade redirected due to fighting west of Myawaddy

Myanmar’s military junta has authorised traders to use alternative routes to the Thai border, as clashes in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township continue to disrupt the flow of goods along the Asian Highway to the border town of Myawaddy. A joint force of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters has been targeting regime outposts in the township since early December. Its administrative centre, which lies just 27 miles west of Myawaddy, has been the scene of fierce fighting since the end of the month. On Sunday, the junta’s Ministry of Commerce announced that goods licensed for export and import through the Myawaddy border gate—which handled nearly US1 billion worth of trade in the last nine months of 2023—can now be transported via other routes. While some products, such as manufacturing equipment or industrial raw materials shipped in containers, will be rerouted through sea ports, most other products will still have to be moved overland, according to ministry restrictions. With the closure of the Kawkareik-Myawaddy section of the Asian Highway, most goods are now expected to travel along the Thoekokoe road, said a Myawaddy-based trader who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity. The Thoekokoe road passes through territory controlled by the KNLA, but there are also other groups allied to the regime present in the area. Toll fees imposed by groups operating along the road will mean higher transport costs, according to the trader. “Everyone is just waiting for the [Asian Highway] to reopen,” he said, noting that many traders will be reluctant to redirect shipments that are already en route to Myawaddy. There are six official border trade gates along the Thai-Myanmar border, which is more than 1,500 miles long. The main one is at Myawaddy, and the others are located at Tachileik, Kawthaung, Myeik, Htee Khee and Mawdaung. According to the Ministry of Commerce, more than $997 million worth of goods passed through the Myawaddy gate between April and December 2023, a decrease of nearly $600 million compared to the same period of the previous year. Naw Mutakapaw, the director general of the Myanmar Trade Promotion Organisation and a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told Myanmar Now last month that fighting on overland trade routes was the main hindrance to boosting commerce at the border. “In order to promote trade, trade routes need to be fast, safe, and convenient. That’s a little bit difficult to achieve right now, but we are doing what we can,” she said. Myanmar conducts border trade with all of its neighbours—Thailand, China, India, and Bangladesh—through 17 checkpoints. Almost all have been affected by fighting that has broken out around the country since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021. Border trade with India through Tamu in Sagaing Region has dwindled almost to nothing due to the conflict, and the capture of the border town of Rikhawdar, in northern Chin State’s Falam Township, by Chin resistance forces in early November has also impacted trade. However, it is in northern Shan State, where an alliance of ethnic armed groups has seized a number of key border crossings into China since launching a major offensive in late October, that the regime has suffered its greatest losses.

Thai-Myanmar border trade redirected due to fighting west of Myawaddy

Clashes in Kawkareik Township over the past month have forced the junta to allow traders to seek alternative routes for their goods

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