According to EastFruit analysts, the surplus of onions on the regional market has now reached Ukraine. In particular, offers of onion for free begun to appear on the largest regional trading platform EF Trade Platform. “I’ll give away my onions for free to anyone who agrees to take care of loading an transportation,” writes the entrepreneur at the platform today. Previously, farmers began giving away onions for free in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and also fed them to sheep, filming this painful process on video.
“Obviously, it was not very easy for many onion owners in Ukraine in the current season to maintain the onion quality in storage for such a long time, because for many of them it was the first such experience. After wholesale prices for onions exceeded $1 per kg in the spring of 2023, many entrepreneurs decided to make money by purchasing onions at harvest to re-sell in the spring with a high profit. Many also invested in growing for the first time. This led to a sharp increase in production and high prices during harvesting in Ukraine. However, similar trends were noted also in other countries: Moldova, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, which led to a huge surplus of onions on the market,” explains Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Photo from the EF Trade Platform
“In addition, onion cultivation in Ukraine moved to the central and western regions of the country from the south, where production was virtually destroyed by the Russian occupiers. In the new regions growing conditions are significantly different, which created problems for long storage. As a result, already in February-March many had to start sorting onions and throwing away part of it because produce quality began to deteriorate. At the same time, prices stagnated and slowly decreased. It is not surprising that at the moment wholesale prices for onions in Ukraine are significantly lower than usual at this time of year,” says Andriy Yarmak.
As a result of such low onion prices in Ukraine, exports of these vegetables to the countries of the European Union surged. The EU has suffered for two years in a from summer droughts, which reduced onion yields and supply. However, exports have not helped support onion prices in Ukraine and they remained low. It is hard to expect a significant increase in prices in the near future, although there is still a lot of time left before the start of the season – harvesting of early varieties of onions in Ukraine will begin only in mid-June.
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The fact is that new onions are already exported from Uzbekistan and other countries with warmer climates, and prices for these produces are also at record lows. Therefore, the situation for onion producers remains difficult.
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