Cattle trade has ground to a halt amid the coronavirus resurgences and over 10,000 cattle are stranded in Muse border.

“Before the COVID-19, cattle was in high demand. The resurgence of COVID-19 in Myanmar prompted China to tighten its border areas with Myanmar. Consequently, it has been over four months that cattle trading has halted. We are not sure when the cattle trading will go back to normal,” Ko Kyi Khin, a cattle trader, said in an interview with the New Light.

While cattle exports are legal in Myanmar, livestock trade is still not permitted by China. Therefore, Myanmar traders cannot directly send the cattle to China market, they have to wait for Chinese traders.

The Department of Livestock Breeding and Veterinary has been providing health care services to cattle stuck in Muse.

During the 2019-2020 financial year, Myanmar’s exports of animal products touched a low of USD 107.74 million, a sharp drop of USD 258.6 million compared with the corresponding period of the 2018-2019 FY.
Yet as of 27 November, in the current FY 2020-2021, animal products exports plunged from USD 40.5 million to only USD 13 million.