Health Impact: Coronavirus Outbreak Jammed For Watermelon Export

The spreading of Coronavirus has impact on watermelon export at Myanmar-China Border Gate.

China is Myanmar’s biggest trading partner and the trade at a single border gate, the northern town of Muse, is worth about one billion dollars per year, according to government statistics.

The outbreak of Coronavirus has jammed logistics at the border, and several farmers said they planned to divert trucks to cities across the country, but domestic appetite is low. With another harvest expected in coming weeks, the farmers said they are worried about further losses.

Watermelon Farmer, Naing Linn Htet said “Since we heard about the problem, our trader in Muse lost the client. Our produce are going to China via our trader at the border. The traders told us not to bring the produce to the border as there are no buyers there. So, we don't dare to bring our fruits. And some people took the risk by bringing the fruits to the border but their business was bad too over there.”

The local farmer added that almost all of his harvest would have been bound for China, but he has chosen not to waste money on transport although the border will be reopened.

Watermelon Farmer, Naing Linn Htet said “Even though we heard that the border will open on the10th of this month. I am curious about how it is open or how big the boundary is and whether we'll get the price back to previous rates. Now, we have stopped farming for about over 10 days. I wonder how many farmers there are altogether that can't harvest at the moment and how many piles of produces were wasted. No one can answer the questions.”

Originated from Wuhan of China, the 2019 Novel Coronavirus has spread to 28 countries across the world as of 8th February. According to China National Health Commission, the death toll from Coronavirus rises to 722 with more than 31000 confirmed cases in China by midnight of 7th February.