Opium prices show diverging trends, reflecting shifting supply dynamics across producing countries.

• Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar, increased by 17 per cent in 2025 and more than doubled since 2020, with increases reported across all poppy producing states; this was mirrored by a similar increase in opium production.
• In 2025, however, annual growth in production appeared to level off (with the estimate increasing by just 1 per cent compared to the previous year) and remained below the 2023 peak, as it was affected by declining yields linked to labour market disruptions and reduced access to agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, amid the ongoing civil conflict.
• Despite the increase in opium production after 2020, opium prices in Myanmar more than doubled – in line with a sharp fall in opium production in Afghanistan.
• Opium production in Afghanistan fell by 95 per cent in 2023 and has remained low, while farm-gate dry opium prices increased sharply after the drug ban in 2021 before declining somewhat again through 2024/25 despite continued low