According to EastFruit, representatives of vegetable seed companies in Moldova reported that the demand for seeds in January-February 2024 was very slow. Similar information was reported by potato seed suppliers. They started even fearing that areas under these crops in 2024 will drop. However, situation started changing noticeably in March.
Going back to 2023, in Moldova even those farmers who had never been involved in vegetable business have often started growing at least some onions. As a result, according to estimates, about 2.5-3.0 thousand hectares of land were devoted to onions in Moldova, which was a record area ever registered.
Read also: Why are onion prices again falling in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Uzbekistan?
As a result, during harvesting, prices for low-quality onions from inexperienced producers have collapsed, and subsequently remained at a relatively low level compared to prices of the previous season throughout the fall and the first month of winter. In this context, some vegetable farmers were deceived by the expectation of high profits and were in no hurry to stock up on seeds for the spring sowing campaign.
However, as we could see, situation was not so bad at all. Wholesale prices for onions in Moldova were actually highest ever, except for the abnormal previous season. It was certainly better than in Central Asia, where farmers ended up throwing onions away for the sheep to eat.
Consequently, in the second half of March, there was some revival in the market of seeds. Considering global decline in grain prices, onions would still be bringing a lot more money to farmers than cereals.
Therefore, seed companies do not exclude the possibility that in the next three to four weeks, onion seed sells will reach the level of 2023 or even exceed it. Also, most likely, sales of seeds and, accordingly, the area under carrots and beets will remain at last year’s level. Potato crops for the 2024 harvest may be reduced by 10-15%.
In general, many professional vegetable farmers will redirect part of their land this year from the production of storable vegetables to the cultivation of tomatoes, sweet peppers and melons and watermelons.
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