After the junta launched a harsh crackdown on Thai goods, citing excessive illegal imports, shortages of Thai products emerged in Mon State and across Myanmar.

The junta has been seizing Thai goods brought in through land trade routes, causing shortages in Mon State and in other regions that received supplies from there.

The junta’s intensified crackdown has forced many traders to halt imports from Thailand, deepening the ongoing shortages.

One trader noted that Thai products had become so scarce in the market that they were now almost impossible to find.

“It’s almost impossible to find Thai products in the market. You won’t see them in supermarkets or grocery stores. There’s not even a single bottle of soy sauce left. All that’s left are local products,” he said.

Traders have condemned the crackdown on Thai products as a backward step, saying it has only deepened the public’s suffering.

On August 18, the junta abruptly closed Friendship Bridge 2 in Karen State’s Myawaddy Town, a key trading hub with Thailand, stranding around 500 trucks in Mae Sot on the Thai side, unable to enter Myanmar.

Traders have also warned that the junta’s reckless actions could trigger a severe shortage of Thai products in the country, followed by skyrocketing prices.

Myanmar depends heavily on neighboring Thailand for basic food products, consumer goods, medicine, cosmetics, and construction materials.