With the arrival of summer, buyers of murta mats, Myanmar’s traditional hand-woven mats from strips of murta, are on the rise, according to the mat dealers.
Murta mats are suitable for all seasons — summer, rainy season or cold season — and as they are also good for health, balancing the coldness in the midst of the ambient heat, sales of murta mats are rising in March when the temperature gets higher.
The most active sales are seen in types such as double sleeping bed-size mat , double sleeping mat, single sleeping mat and mat used in meditation, a mat seller said.
“Since the weather becomes very hot this month, cool and hygienic murta mats are selling better. Many people bought one or two pieces. Various types – double, bed-size and single – sell well. Foam mats are a bit hot. Murta mats are not like that. As they keep the sleepers cool, they usually sell more in hot weather,” said one vender.
In the Yangon market, a single 3’ x 6’ sleeping mat costs over K20,000 and a bed size goes up to over K60,000 while the price can vary from shop to shop, he added.
A housewife in Pazundaung, Yangon, said she recently bought a bed-size murta mat for K 65,000.
“With the hotter weather these days and the power cuts at night, we could no longer sleep, so we had to buy a murta mat. I even had to pay K65,000 for one piece I bought from Pazundaung market. I saw other customers also buying murta mats in the shop,” she said. — MT/ ZN
