A ‘critical moment’
Opium derived from the poppy is the main natural active ingredient used in the production of heroin. The world’s three main sources of illegal opium are Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.
“Myanmar is at a critical moment,” said Delphine Schantz, director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
“This important expansion of cultivation shows to what extent the The opium economy has recovered in recent years and points to further potential growth in the future.“
Opium production and yield in Myanmar, 2005 to 2025.
Conflict-driven cultivation
The steepest increases were recorded in Eastern Shan State, where cultivation increased by 32 percent, and Chin State, by 26 percent, both heavily affected by armed conflict, weak state presence and limited access to services.
The southern Shan, long the heart of Myanmar’s opium economy due to its rugged terrain, porous borders and entrenched trafficking networks, remained the country’s main growing area, accounting for 44 percent of all poppy fields.
main source
For the first time, significant cultivation was also documented in the Sagaing region, believed to be the “epicenter” of Myanmar’s conflict since the 2021 military takeover, with 552 hectares of poppy growing and highlighting a growing shift towards the country’s insecure western border areas.
Myanmar has been the world’s leading source of illicit opium since the collapse of production in Afghanistan, where cultivation fell by about 95 percent after the Taliban’s ban in 2023.
Total opium production is estimated to be around 1,010 metric tons in 2025. more than double Afghanistan’s current level.
Yields have declined most sharply in Northern Shan and Kachin, where fighting has intensified, displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Field reports indicate that some farmers are replanting old fields without crop rotation and struggling to obtain fertilizers, further reducing productivity.
Dried opium prices (left) and share of the opiate economy in Myanmar.
A ‘survival crop’
Despite falling yields, rising prices continue to make opium an attractive survival crop.
Domestic farmgate prices for dried opium averaged around $365 per kilogram in 2025, more than double what they were in 2019.
The UNODC estimates that farmers earned between $300 million and $487 million from opium sales last year, a vital source of income as Myanmar’s licit economy remains fragile.
“Driven by intensifying conflict, the need to survive and the lure of rising prices, farmers are drawn to poppy cultivation,“said Ms. Schantz. “Unless viable alternative livelihoods are created, the cycle of poverty and dependence on illicit crops will only deepen.”
Heroin flows move beyond Southeast Asia
The survey also points to signs that heroin from Myanmar is reaching markets that previously supplied Afghanistan.
European drug authorities reported several seizures in 2024 and early 2025 of heroin believed to have been produced in and around Myanmar by airline passengers traveling from Thailand to Europe.
Beyond opioids, Myanmar also remains a major production center for synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, compounding what the UNODC describes as a “very challenging illicit drug situation” across Southeast Asia and beyond.
“What happens in Myanmar will shape drug markets in the region and far beyond, and requires urgent action.”Ms. Schantz warned.