AP
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Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has soared this year to its highest level in a decade, as the country remains one of the world’s major suppliers of illegal drugs, according to a United Nations study.
This growth cements Myanmar’s position as the world’s major known source of illicit opium, especially after a sharp decline in production in Afghanistan after the ruling Taliban imposed a ban after taking over Afghanistan in 2021.
The area under opium cultivation has expanded by 17% since 2024 to 53,100 hectares (131,212 acres), the most since 2015, according to the 2025 Myanmar Opium Survey released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on Wednesday.
UNODC also describes Myanmar as the world’s largest producer of methamphetamine. Stimulants are easier to manufacture on an industrial scale than opium, which is labor-intensive, and are distributed by land, sea, and air around Asia and the Pacific in the form of tablets and crystal stimulant crystals.
Opium, which is made into morphine and heroin, is harvested from poppy flowers, but Myanmar’s farmers are pushing to harvest more as the country faces widespread poverty and instability amid the ongoing civil war that erupted after the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The main factor behind the increase in production in Myanmar is the soaring price of opium. Raw opium currently costs about $329 per kilogram, more than double the 2019 price of $145. According to the report, Myanmar’s opium economy is worth approximately $641 million to $1.05 billion, equivalent to approximately 0.9% to 1.4% of the country’s GDP in 2024.
The increase in cultivated land offset a 13% decline in average yields due to increased conflict in some regions, resulting in opium production increasing 1% to about 1,010 tonnes (1,113 tonnes), the report said.
The increase also reverses last year’s slight decline in cultivation and production, suggesting an increase in the drug trade entrenched in the country. According to the report, cultivation and production in Myanmar has already increased from 2021 to 2023 due to the impact of the civil war.
“Myanmar is at a critical moment,” said Delphine Schantz, UNODC Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “This significant expansion in cultivation demonstrates the extent to which the opium economy has re-established itself over the past few years and points to the potential for further growth in the future.”
There are signs that heroin from Myanmar is reaching European markets previously supplied by Afghanistan, with several seizures involving passengers traveling from Southeast Asia to Europe over the past year. The UNODC study noted that although volumes were not large, demand outside the region was increasing to fill the gap left by the collapse of Afghanistan’s production.
“Escalating conflict, the need to survive and the lure of rising prices are drawing farmers (in Myanmar) to poppy cultivation,” Shantz said. “Unless viable alternative livelihoods are created, the cycle of poverty and dependence on illegal cultivation will only deepen.”
Northeast Myanmar is part of the infamous “Golden Triangle”, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. Opium and heroin production has historically been strong there, largely due to illegal activities in the border area, where Myanmar’s central government has minimal control over various ethnic militias, including their drug trafficking partners.
