In Mon State, the police and relevant departments are confiscating Thai cooking oil imported via the Myaddy border from grocery stores and wholesale dealers, the suppliers said.
Since a few days ago, the military council has been seizing “Two Prawn” brand edible oils from Thailand on the grounds that they were imported without paying taxes.
As a result, vendors have lost capital, and the majority of shops selling Thai goods have closed their doors.
One trader said, “We had to pay the required taxes at various junta checkpoints when the cooking oil was brought into the nation, and now that the oil has been taken away, we have suffered twice.”
According to a housewife, there is less edible oil on the market, and the price of edible oil is going up since the military council is seizing edible oil made in Thailand from everywhere.
The cooking oil produced in Thailand was only around Ks 6,500 per viss before, and rose to around Ks 8,000 per viss on November 28—three days after the Military Council confiscated the oil.
Mon State primarily imports edible oil from Thailand, and it also purchases some from Indonesia and Malaysia, while selling a minor quantity of its own domestically produced edible oil.
Before the military council seized power, edible oil cost around Ks 2,400 per viss, but the price of oil nearly quadrupled along with price volatility.