Wholesale prices for last year’s onions in Uzbekistan are growing for the second week in a row. Over the past two weeks, their average wholesale prices have increased by 35% and reached the highest level in 3 months of 2022. Moreover, current prices are almost twice higher than the levels recorded in the same period of previous years, EastFruit analysts say.
According to EastFruit price monitoring, the average wholesale prices for last year’s onion increased from 2 000 to 2 700 UZS/kg (from $0.18 to $0.24), i.e. by 35%, from 11 to 25 March 2022. The current levels of average wholesale prices for onions are 1.9 times higher than on the same date in 2021 and 2020.
In addition, the current wholesale prices for last year’s onions reached the maximum level not only for 3 months of 2022, but also for January-May in 2020-2021. As can be seen from the graph below, the highest average wholesale prices for last year’s onions in January-May 2020-2021 was recorded on April 22, 2020 at the level of 2 500 UZS/kg.
Notably, the influence of external markets on such price increases was negligible. According to the country’s Customs Committee, the volume of onion exports from Uzbekistan from 1 to 24 March 2022 amounted to less than 50 tonnes. Thus, the increase in onion prices in Uzbekistan over the past week is associated with the situation in the domestic market – such dynamics is formed by the ratio of supply and demand in this market.
Meanwhile, early onions of a new crop became available in the supermarkets of the capital of Uzbekistan! On March 24, 2022, the Korzinka supermarket chain announced the start of sales of new crop onions in its stores at 7 990 UZS/kg ($0.70). For comparison, retail prices for last year’s yellow onion in the capital’s supermarkets range from 3 900 to 5 900 UZS/kg (from $0.34 to $0.51).
“As onions ripen and supplies increase, prices will decrease, and the number of supermarkets where you can purchase onions will increase,” the message of the Korzinka.uz chain says.
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