Bamboo price bump: Workers load bamboo onto a cart for delivery at a bamboo sales centre in Kyeemyindaing township, Yangon. Bamboo prices are expected to peak this month due to transportation difficulties between the rainy season and the onset of cooler, dry weather, bamboo traders in Kyeemyindaing township said.

Twenty to 30-foot pieces of the top-selling wayar bamboo – used as scaffolding in construction and for supporting roofs of huts – currently cost K380 to K580 depending on quality and weight. This month prices are expected to rise by about K100, Ma Nyo, owner of Yatanar Aye Mya bamboo shop, said.

“The time around late rainy season and early winter is very difficult for bamboo transportation,” she explained, saying that carts can be used to carry bamboo when the ground is dry and firm and water routes can be used to move bamboo downhill in rainy season. But in November there is often not enough rain to make streams viable options and tracks can still be too boggy for carts.
The result is higher prices for bamboo as transportation routes are lengthened. “The transport costs to the wholesales shops [increase] about K100 per piece,” Ma Nyo said.

It currently takes about three days to bring wayar bamboo from the main growing areas in Twante township and Bago Yoma hill, in Bago Division, to Yangon.