The Myanmar government will maintain its minimum rice price to protect farmers from market fluctuations. The rice floor price, or reference price, will remain at MMK 500,000 per basket through 2020. The announcement came from the Leading Committee for Farmer’s Rights Protection and Interests Promotion, a government organization. “The basic reference price of 100 baskets of paddy, each basket weighing 46 pounds, will be MMK 500,000 if the grains have moisture content of 14 percent, are free of dust, sand, gravel, and meet the set standards,” it read.

Current prices for top quality rice generally fluctuate between MMK 800,000 and MMK 1.2 million for 100 baskets, according to data reported by the Myanmar Times. According to the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF), a basket of rice costs around MMK 350,000 to produce, ensuring a profit margin of at least MMK 150,000 per basket for farmers.

The price floor aims to be a safety net for farmers as the public and private sectors attempt to breathe live into Myanmar’s global rice trade. In its colonial era, Myanmar was the world’s top rice exporter. In 2015, U Chit Khaing, chairman of the MRF, told Frontier magazine that while Myanmar still produces some of the highest volumes of rice in the world, it exports very little. However, this year the MRF signed an MOU with China to export 250,000 tonnes of rice. An industry report by the World Bank said “there are good market prospects to accommodate higher rice exports from Myanmar over the next 10-15 years. China is becoming a large net importer of Myanmar rice. The European Union has opened its markets for duty free imports from Myanmar.”