Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on Myanmar’s rice mills
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Goeb et al Policy brief February2022
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- This study was conducted to gain an overview of how Myanmar’s rice value chain has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
- The research team adopted a series of phone surveys with about 380 rice millers, comprising of medium and large-scale rice mills in Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago regions of Myanmar in January, April, June and September 2021.
- Banking sector disruptions, particularly in payment processes, pose a significant challenge for rice millers, with 70% of respondents reporting this issue in September 2021.
- Overall, the rice milling industry faces financial difficulties, with lower expected paddy harvests and milling throughput in 2021 compared to 2020, a 24% drop in working capital, decreased lending to farmers, increased transportation costs, and widespread adoption of COVID-19 safety practices.