Myanmar retail sales slashed by 80 percent in this fiscal year when compared to the same period of previous year due to the COVID – 19 outbreak

Myanmar allowed its citizens to go out and buy essential commodities during the period considered the peak of the local transmission. However, people tried to avoid going out and spent less, resulting in an 80 percent retail sales drop compared to last year, according to Daw Win Win Tint, Managing Director of City Mart Holdings.

Demands gradually dropped below normal trend in the previous year, and May and June, for example, saw a 20 percent decline compared to the same period last year.

There are over 300,000 retail shops and mostly are conventional ones, without any proper bookkeeping, which hold almost 90 percent of the market share.

When the Ministry of Health and Sport reported the first few confirmed cases in late March, people stormed into local stores and shopping more to panic-buy. To make the matters worse, that time coincided with Thingyan Festival, long public holidays, when people usually stock commodities for the holidays, the City Mart Managing Director said.

City Mart Holding, founded in 1996, holds the largest market share in the domestics retail market and runs City Mart Supermarkets, Ocean Supercenters, marketplace by City Mart, City Baby Clubs City Care, City Books & Music, Seasons Bakery, City Expres, and City Mall Online.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi promised that the government will take responsibility to assure food security and urged people not to worry about food security and do panic-buying.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread impact. Restaurants, for instance, saw a 53 percent drop in revenue in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year. The first five months of 2019 generated $125.493 million while this year generated $58.545 million so far, according to the report published by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://mmbiztoday.com/retail-sales-slashed-by-80-percent-due-to-the-covid-19/ )

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