Japanese executive among 11 people arrested in Burma for inflating rice prices

Myanmar has arrested four supermarket chain executives, including a Japanese joint venture manager, on suspicion of selling rice at artificially high prices, state media reported Monday, as the war-torn country's ruling junta struggles to stabilise its economy.

The poor Southeast Asian country has been gripped by unrest since its military overthrew an elected civilian government in February 2021, sparking widespread protests that turned into nationwide armed resistance.

Authorities said they arrested 11 people, including rice traders and factory and retailer managers, accusing them of inflating prices by 31 to 70 percent above prescribed levels, the Global New Light newspaper reported of Myanmar.

In Tokyo, Japanese Government Secretary-General Yoshimasa Hayashi said police in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, were questioning a Japanese national.

“The Japanese government intends to continue to take appropriate measures while urging local authorities to secure his early release,” he told reporters.

These efforts include maintaining contact with the Japanese citizen's employer and offering necessary support, he added.

Myanmar's junta-run newspaper said an executive at the Aeon Orange supermarket chain, a joint venture between Japan's Aeon Co and Yangon-based Creation Myanmar, was among those arrested.

A junta spokesman did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

An Aeon spokesman told Reuters that a company employee had been arrested in Myanmar and that the company was working with the Japanese embassy to obtain more details.

The owner of a rice mill in Myanmar said many businesses in the sector were struggling due to a mismatch between the official exchange rate and the black market rates governing most transactions, such as buying fuel and imported fertilizers.

“It is a loss for us to sell rice at the government's standard price,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the subject is sensitive.

“Myanmar still has enough rice. This is because the government wants to limit its prices.”

For years, black market rates for Myanmar's kyat currency have been significantly higher than the central bank's benchmark rate of 2,100 to the dollar.

The currency hit a record high on the black market of around 4,500 to the dollar in late May, and has since remained broadly around that level, three dealers said.

Amid growing violence, poverty in Myanmar is more widespread than at any time in the past six years and labor shortages and currency depreciation are making business more difficult, said the World Bank.

Last month, the junta arrested 35 people, cracking down on gold and currency dealers as well as agents selling real estate abroad in a bid to support the rapid depreciation of the currency.