Monitoring the Agri-food System in Myanmar 2022 – Food Vendors – March 2022

Key findings

Based on a survey of 422 food vendors in rural and urban areas and in all state/regions of Myanmar in March 2022, it is found that:

• Over the last year (comparing March 2022 to March 2021), (nominal) food costs have increased by 41 percent overall and by 39 and 42 percent in urban and rural areas, respectively. Nominal price increases for most foods range from 30 to 50 percent, including protein and micronutrient rich foods.
• Rice prices have increased the least of any reported food over the last year. However, a 23 percent increase in this primary staple, which accounts for about 60 percent of caloric intake and 20 percent of household food expenditure, is concerning.
• The majority of vendors report challenges related to inputs including high prices of raw materials or supplies (78 percent), high fuel or transportation costs (81 percent), and disrupted access to energy/electricity (57 percent). In the three months before the survey, 62 percent of vendors report one of these challenges as their single greatest adversities.
• More than a third of vendors considered either restrictions on mobility (26 percent) or insecurity (10 percent) to have been the greatest obstacles, in the past month.

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