Fishing for profit at Yangon’s bustling markets

AFP Yangon's fish markets are bustling as workers sort through piles of fresh catches like fish and prawns along the Hlaing River at dawn. Workers, clad in protective rubber gloves and boots, are laboriously unloading fish and seafood from boats, navigating through melting ice, at the Shwe Pidan fish market, which has nearly 500 stalls. This market and the former San Pya fish market are essential components of Yangon's food chain, supplying protein to millions of the city's residents. Some 400,000 viss (more than 650,000 kg or about 1.43 million pounds) of freshwater produce, Myanmar's traditional weight measure, pass through the Shwe Pidan market daily, the junta said in May, which also trades in marine produce. But like elsewhere in Myanmar, the markets have not been spared the impact of a civil war that has dragged on for five years. Work is extremely arduous and in recent years, many young men have left Myanmar to seek work abroad and avoid conscription, after the military, which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021, issued a law making military service mandatory. Fighting in the western Rakhine state, which previously exported a lot of seafood, has also hit the economy, workers said. "It's been about five months, the economy is not good," said one supervisor. "Most of the workers have gone to Malaysia," he added. Now, the main source of marine fish is the Ayeyarwady region in southwestern Yangon, they said. Furthermore, the Ukraine war has sent fuel prices soaring globally, driving up fish prices and hitting demand. "My income has dropped this year. It's not like in previous years," said a 40-year-old seafood trader at the Shwe Pidan market, who asked not to be named for security reasons. "Prices have gone up and sales have dropped among traders," he told AFP. "People probably can't afford to buy a lot of fish because prices are so high." Workers earn between 15,000 and 25,000 kyats ($7-$12) a day, which is more than the daily wage of 10,000 to 20,000 kyats for garment factory workers, according to labour unions. The trader said many of his friends were at the market. "Outside, we are like brothers," he told AFP. "But in the market, business is business. If fish become scarce, we have to fight each other to get fish." "When we go home, we are brothers again." (Translated by Ko Toe from AFP's "Fishing for profit at Yangon’s bustling markets") The post Fishing for profit at Yangon’s bustling markets appeared first on BUR.MIZZIMA.COM.