According to EastFruit analysts, Uzbekistan unexpectedly became one of the most attractive apple markets for exporters and growers from Ukraine in the 2021/22 season. This is partly due to the fact that market participants have quality market information provided by our team. In particular, we often drew attention to the possibility of supplying apples to Uzbekistan this season and analyzed in detail the reasons for the high prices for apples there, which provoked the first increase in interest in the sexport of Ukrainian and Moldovan apples to this country.

By the way, each market participant can compare wholesale prices for apples in nine countries of the region (Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Poland, Georgia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Georgia and Russia) free of charge in the “price monitoring” section of the portal. This is one of the most popular sections on our website.

However, let’s return to the apple market – prices are abnormally high this season in Uzbekistan. For example, such a popular variety as “Golden Delicious” in Uzbekistan has become a real “golden apple” – they cost an average of 6.5 times more than in Ukraine! A similar price difference is observed for other popular varieties.

It is not surprising that with such a significant difference in price, Ukrainian exporters send about 150-200 tonnes of fresh apples to Uzbekistan monthly. By the end of December 2021, more than 460 tonnes of new harvest apples have already been delivered to Uzbekistan. This allowed Uzbekistan to enter the Top-10 most important sales markets for Ukrainian apples this season.

Although apple prices in Uzbekistan are abnormally high, a high level of apple prices is also observed in other countries of the region. In particular, quality apples are quite expensive in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. We wrote that apples from Ukraine and Moldova are sold well in Tajikistan. Kazakhstan has also already imported almost 200 tonnes of fresh apples from Ukraine in the first months of the 2021/22 season. As a result, Kazakhstan is the 17th among the largest importing countries of Ukrainian apples.

Сообщение Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan import record volumes of Ukrainian apples появились сначала на EastFruit.

Who would have thought that one of the main issues in the economy of countries in the region in 2022 would be high cabbage prices? Nonetheless, food inflation causes discontent among consumers in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and even Turkey, and the rapid rise in prices for traditional vegetables of the so-called “borsch set” is one of its key elements.

As EastFruit experts note, the methods used by the leadership of countries in the region to contrast food inflation puzzle economists. Although the transparency of market conditions stimulates competition and more efficient exchange of goods and services and leads to lower prices and their stability, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus choose autarky which has the opposite effect.

What is “autarky”? Surprisingly, this term is practically not found even in economic literature in the countries of the former USSR, which was the clearest example of autarky for many decades.

Autarky is an economic system where a country strives for self-sufficiency and the maximum restriction of trade. It doesn’t sound so bad, does it? For instance, what’s wrong with not importing cabbage? But if the problem with cabbage can still be solved, then what about the salmon of Belarus that has no access to the sea? Or where can Belarus get cherries and peaches if the climate does not allow growing them? Thus, as practice shows, autarky is a utopia.

Does it remind anything to people who are now 40-50+ years old, who grew up in the USSR? They saw what autarky leads to – a constant shortage of necessary goods, a meager assortment, a black market, the impoverishment of the population. As a rule, autarky ends with the complete bankruptcy of the entire country, as was the case with the USSR.

Recall that Russia currently prohibits the imports of food, including vegetables, from the maximum number of countries. It is catching up with Belarus, which has introduced an embargo on the imports of vegetables and fruits (as well as other products) from the EU and a number of other countries since 2022. It turns out this was not enough, and recently Belarus decided to introduce a ban on the exports of vegetables and apples, and even set maximum retail prices for a number of vegetables and fruits by administrative means! Did it help lower the prices? Of course, not. Moreover, the real prices of controlled goods keep growing steadily, and the efforts of the state give a new impetus to price growth.

However, let’s get back to Russia that despite record high prices for vegetables and fruits has inappropriately strengthened its excessive control of fruit and vegetable imports at the borders. Of course, if most of the leading producing countries cannot supply you with their products, increased control at the borders will not help improve the quality of vegetables and fruits. The quality of vegetables and fruits does not increase during inspections, but it may well decrease. If fruit and vegetables are kept at the border in suboptimal conditions for 7-10 or more days, they will not become better and cheaper.

In addition to the current market problems, plans of the Russian government to limit the margins on borsch vegetables to 5% are reported! Barely anyone can force supermarkets to sell vegetables at a loss. They may be forced with administrative and informal means, but in this case they will only formally keep vegetables on supermarket shelves. However, everyone will suffer losses: consumers, the country’s budget, farmers, and supermarkets.

Kazakhstan also introduced a ban on the exports of potatoes and carrots this year, which led to large losses for Kazakh producers. Realizing that the situation could only worsen due to government actions next year, the country recently lifted the ban. For a country so remote from global markets, it is quite dangerous to play the manual management of perishable markets.

Unfortunately, examples of striving for autarky go even beyond the boundaries of the post-Soviet states. Turkey has been and remains one of the most protected economies. However, it is well known that the further strengthening of administrative intervention in the economy and fiscal policy led to catastrophic consequences – a record devaluation of the local currency and record inflation. Unfortunately, the country’s leadership has recently taken another confident step towards further aggravating the problem – it has given the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey the authority to restrict the exports of fruits and vegetables and other food! This option has not been used so far, but the investment climate in the industry has not improved from this news. Moreover, producers say that the production of vegetables and fruits is unprofitable, since the devaluation of the Turkish lira leads to a sharp increase in growing costs, while the proceeds from the sale of fruits and vegetables instantly depreciate.

Unfortunately, state regulation on 11 types of food products was also returned in Ukraine at the beginning of 2022. However, vegetables and fruits have not yet been included in the list. Notably, those products that were subject to state regulation continued to rise in price after that. It remains to be hoped that this temporary and erroneous regulation will be canceled in the near future, as its inefficiency is obvious. Nonetheless, Ukraine does not restrict the exports or imports of products and does not declare such intentions, unlike some of its neighbors. Moreover, Ukraine recently signed a free trade agreement with Turkey, which will have a positive impact on the horticultural business as a whole.

Nevertheless, regional trends for the development of the fruit and vegetable market remain quite negative. Multiple restrictions on trade lead to the unwillingness of investors to engage, as the state can dramatically change the rules of the game. They do not want officials to share their harvest, and will look for areas where the risks are lower, and even subsidies will not convince them. By the way, subsidies do not come out of thin air – it is money that the state has collected in the form of taxes from consumers and farmers. This means that the nominal prices for vegetables and fruits in such countries will grow, as well as the real costs consumers pay for them.

Сообщение Autarky as the main method against high vegetable prices in the countries of the region появились сначала на EastFruit.

Entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan are counting losses due to the ban on the exports of potatoes, although the ban did not last long and the government of the country has already canceled it. It was replaced with an export quota, EastFruit experts report.

We remind you that from January 22, 2022, a three-month ban on the export of potatoes and carrots came into force in Kazakhstan. The country’s government made this decision, fearing a shortage and rising prices of potatoes and carrots in the spring. However, the farmers managed to convince the interdepartmental commission to allow exports within the established quota.

However, more than 2 000 tonnes of potatoes, loaded into rail trucks even before the export ban began, were stuck at the customs post at Saryagash station when leaving Kazakhstan at the Kazakh-Uzbek border. Due to the fact that they have been stuck for about two weeks, the potatoes are all frozen and almost unsuitable for consumption. According to exporters, if it gets warmer in the coming days, the potatoes will leak and rot.

According to the Kazakh edition Otyrar.kz, 35 railway wagons with potatoes – over 2 000 tonnes – have been waiting at the customs post at the Saryagash station (on the Kazakh-Uzbek border) for the second week. Potatoes were brought from Pavlodar (a region in the north-east of Kazakhstan).

Entrepreneurs fearfully open the wagons full of potatoes. The hope that the goods have not deteriorated is fading. “All the potatoes are frozen. They are almost unsuitable for consumption anymore. In a couple of days, when it gets warmer, they will simply leak and rot,” says businessman Nurgali Ormanov.

Read also: How have potato prices changed over the year in Eastern Europe and Central Asia?

According to the entrepreneurs, the first wagons, with all necessary permits, arrived here on January 15, 2022, but they were not allowed to cross the border.

“We have both a declaration and sealed phytosanitary certificates – the export is allowed. They were given to us before loading in Pavlodar,” said Nursultan Aidarbekov.

“My first wagons arrived on January 15th. And the decision to ban the export of potatoes, carrots and cattle was supposed to come into force only on January 22. In total, these 35 wagons of potatoes belong to six entrepreneurs. I have 30 wagons now. Our goods are stuck here. And we saw how several wagons with potatoes were sent to Uzbekistan,” said Zhanbolat Altaev, an entrepreneur.

One wagon with potatoes costs 12 million KZT ($27 600). Businessmen cannot unload the goods in Kazakhstan – they have already received partial payment from their Uzbek partners. If the entire batch of potatoes stuck at the border becomes unusable, the losses of Kazakh exporters will amount to 420 million KZT ($967 200) – about $1 million. In this regard, entrepreneurs wonder who will compensate them for their losses.

As EastFruit experts have repeatedly noted in 2021, potatoes have become the main import position of the fruit and vegetable sector of Uzbekistan over the past few years. The annual volume of potato imports did not exceed 50 000 tonnes per year until 2016, and in 2017 the import amounted to 194 000 tonnes. The volume of imports increased by almost 3 times from 2017 to 2021.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, the country imported 560 000 tonnes of potatoes in 2021, which is 109 100 tonnes more than in 2020. Kazakhstan became the largest supplier of potatoes in 2021. The total volume of imports in 2021 was distributed among the main suppliers of potatoes to Uzbekistan as follows:

Kazakhstan – 196 000 tonnes;

Pakistan – 161 000 tonnes;

Iran – 141 000 tonnes;

Kyrgyzstan – 35 000 tonnes;

Netherlands – 11 000 tonnes;

Russia – 4 8000 tonnes;

Other countries – 11 200 tonnes.

Сообщение Losses of Kazakh exporters may reach hundreds of millions of Tenge due to the ban on potato exports появились сначала на EastFruit.

On January 22, a three-month ban on the export of potatoes and carrots came in force in Kazakhstan. But the growers managed to convince the interdepartmental commission to allow exports within the established quota. This was reported by ElDala.kz with reference to Kairat Bisetayev, head of the Union of Potato and Vegetable Growers of Kazakhstan.

“After the intervention of the Minister of Trade, I managed to participate in the meeting of the Interregional Commission. A decision has just been made to replace the ban on potato exports with quotas for 144 000 tonnes of  potatoes in the period from February to April. They also allocated a quota for 57 000 tonnes of potato seeds for the same period,” said Kairat Bisetaev.

He also said that restrictions on the exports of carrots were lifted by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Earlier, the government decided to limit the exports of potatoes and carrots, fearing a shortage and rising prices in the spring. To convince the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the extremity of such a measure, the Union of Potato and Vegetable Growers conducted a huge study, recalculating the stocks of potatoes in the country. It was established that organized agricultural enterprises produced a little more than 1 million tonnes, and together with production in private household plots in Kazakhstan, 2 million tonnes were harvested.

Agricultural enterprises of the country had 844 389 tonnes of marketable potatoes. The needs of the urban population of Kazakhstan are estimated by researchers at 614 810 tonnes. Taking into account imports (70 000 tonnes per year), it is enough for the country’s agricultural producers to supply 544 810 tonnes of potatoes to the domestic market. This means that the exports potential for the current season (until July 2022) is 299 578 tonnes.

Сообщение The ban on the exports of potatoes and carrots was lifted in Kazakhstan появились сначала на EastFruit.

Magnum Cash&Carry, the largest retail chain in Kazakhstan, estimates the damage from looting at 11 billion KZT ($25.3 million), EastFruit experts report referring to Adindex.Asia.

According to Dmitry Shishkin, Magnum’s PR manager, only chain stores located in Almaty were affected. A total of 25 stores were attacked by looters, of which 15 were completely looted, 11 were partially looted. He clarified that there are 68 stores in the city of Almaty, of which more than a third suffered.

According to the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, more than 1,500 business entities in 9 regions of Kazakhstan suffered from the attacks of looters during the unrest. The total amount of damage to business is estimated at $221 million, of which $217 million (98%) is in Almaty. The sectors most affected are trade, catering, logistics and the financial sector.

The Magnum representative added that as of January 13, 2022, almost all stores have been restored. 63 out of 68 stores in Almaty are already open. But all of them still work shorter hours, and the company is ready to resume usual work in the near future.

Read also: Uzbekistan became the fastest growing market for fruits and vegetables from Iran in 2021

We remind you that after a long preparation, the Kazakh retailer entered the retail market of Uzbekistan at the end of 2021. The first Magnum hypermarket in Uzbekistan opened in Tashkent on December 11, 2021, and a Magnum supermarket opened there a week later. In the first year of development in Uzbekistan, the Kazakh retailer planned to invest about $20 million and open two more hypermarkets and several supermarkets in 2022.

However, it is unclear how the retailer’s loss of $25 million from looting in Kazakhstan will affect the immediate plans for business development in Uzbekistan.

Magnum Cash&Carry is the largest retail chain in Kazakhstan. The first store was opened in 2007 in Alma-Ata. According to Adindex.Asia, Magnum has 184 stores, 2 of them are located in Tashkent and 182 in Kazakhstan. The chain operates in four formats – express, daily, supermarket and hypermarket, the assortment is 35-40 thousand SKU, seasonally adjusted.

Сообщение The largest retailer in Kazakhstan suffers multimillion-dollar losses from looting появились сначала на EastFruit.

From the beginning of January to the end of October 2021, the volume of fresh watermelon exports from Uzbekistan in physical terms amounted to 43.6 thousand tonnes, which is 11% less than in the same period in 2020. Since the exports season for Uzbek watermelon has already ended, this volume will be close to the final for 2021.

However, despite a slight decrease in the export of watermelon in 2021, it was abnormally high for the second year in a row, namely 14 times higher than the average annual export in 2017-2019. EastFruit analysts figured out whether the export growth in 2020-2021 was accidental, or it was the beginning of a trend and new opportunities for increasing the country’s exports in the fruit and vegetable segment.

Let’s analyze the geography of watermelon exports before and after the sharp increase in volumes. It turns out that the main importing countries in 2020-2021 and their share in supplies have changed significantly, as can be seen from the two diagrams below.

Before the sharp increase in exports, Tajikistan was the main buyer of watermelons from Uzbekistan. More than a third of all products were supplied there. Three countries: Tajikistan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan accounted for 77% of all watermelon exports.

However, the situation has changed significantly in 2020-2021. The share of Kazakhstan in supplies rose to 55%, and of Russia – up to 33%. Thus, more than 88% of all watermelon exports of Uzbekistan accounted for two countries, one of which was not previously among the main sales markets!

It is even more interesting to look at the changes in the volume of supplies that may help us find out whether the growth of Uzbek exports was accidental or temporary.

In terms of growth in supply volumes, attention is drawn to, first of all, two countries – Kazakhstan and Russia. In 2021, 36 thousand tonnes of watermelon more were exported to these two countries than in 2019. In 2020, their share in the Uzbek exports of watermelon was even higher. We need to understand why the demand for Uzbek watermelon in these countries has dramatically increased to assume whether they will buy watermelon in Uzbekistan in 2022.

By the way, we cannot discount Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Moldova that also increased purchases.

Let’s look at the statistics of international trade in watermelons of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. It turns out that both countries sharply increased the volume of watermelon imports in 2020 and 2021. Russia, which was itself a major exporter of watermelon until 2020, sharply reduced its exports and increased imports.

Given the different ripening periods of watermelon in Uzbekistan, as well as in the key importing countries, Russia and Kazakhstan, it seems that the demand for the earlier watermelon has increased there. Traditionally, Russian consumers preferred to buy watermelon no earlier than August, because of fears of the high nitrate content in early watermelons, and their low taste.

However, the situation has recently started to change, in our opinion, partly due to the supply of watermelon from Uzbekistan. Uzbek watermelons ripen much earlier and have a high sugar content, which could not but be noted by Russian and Kazakh consumers. In 2021, Uzbekistan exported more than 2.4 thousand tonnes of watermelon in May, and more than 40 thousand tonnes in June-July!

It can be concluded that the sharp increase in watermelon exports from Uzbekistan is most likely not an accident, but a new market opportunity. It is no accident that watermelon has become one of the country’s key export positions in the summer, along with cherries and apricots, over the past two years. It should still be borne in mind that in order to further expand watermelon exports and their geography, Uzbek producers should also pay attention to trend seedless varieties of watermelon of smaller size.

Сообщение Sharp increase in watermelon exports from Uzbekistan in recent years – an accident or a new trend? появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts the first wholesale batches of Uzbek onions have already become available in the wholesale markets of Ukraine. We reported the high probability of such developments more than a month ago in the article “Will record high onion prices in Ukraine lead to imports from Uzbekistan and Moldova?”, when the harvesting of onions in Ukraine was still going on. This is especially noteworthy after the season of record high Ukrainian onion exports over the last 8 years.

Despite onions from Uzbekistan offered in Ukraine being 15-25% more expensive than locally produced ones, the demand for them is quite good. As market participants explain, the main reason for the willingness of Ukrainian buyers to pay more for imported Uzbek onions is their higher quality. The fact is that Ukrainian producers, waiting for an increase in onion prices in winter and spring, tried to put all high-quality onions in storages. Thus, the local market is dominated by onions of average quality, creating opportunities for the import of high-quality ones.

We are also informed about the purchases of onions by Ukrainian traders not only in Uzbekistan, but also in Kazakhstan. The latter exports up to 100 thousand tonnes of onions per year, has a well-developed infrastructure for storing onions and cheaper and faster logistics to Ukraine. Purchases of onions in Tajikistan where prices are lower than in Uzbekistan seem even more interesting. However, we are not talking about the supply of Tajik onions to Ukraine, since logistics from Tajikistan will be more expensive, and it is more difficult to collect sufficient volumes of export-grade onions there than in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Despite quality issues, average wholesale prices for onions in Ukraine are on average 2.5 times higher than at the same time last year and higher than in 2019. By the way, they have not changed since mid-August 2021, which is typical for seasons with balanced supply and demand. The last time onion prices rose in the fall in 2018, but they began to decline closer to 2019 and kept declining until April 2019. This was followed by a sharp price rise to a record level in May 2019, but it was due to the general shortage of onions in Europe.

Onion prices in Ukraine are now higher than in any other Eastern European country. Only in Belarus wholesale prices for onions are comparable to those in Ukraine. It is interesting that wholesale prices for onions in Russia are currently 33% lower than in Ukraine, although product quality is also problematic there.

As for Central Asian countries, onion prices are significantly lower than in Ukraine. Onions in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan can now be bought two times cheaper than in Ukraine but the difference in absolute prices is moderate (about $0.15), forcing importers to look for the cheapest logistics options. Even this will not allow importers to earn money, if imported onions are not sold at a higher price than Ukrainian ones.

That is why the first onions from Central Asia are offered on the Ukrainian market at a higher price than local ones. By the way, cheap logistics will be unavailable with the onset of cold weather, perhaps that is why importers are in a hurry to deliver onions to the Ukrainian market.

However, the downward trend in onion prices in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan of the past two weeks is noteworthy. It significantly increases the chances of exporting to Ukraine. Ukrainian traders believe that soon when the farmers run out of onions that cannot be stored long, their prices will start to rise rapidly. Therefore, they are actively concluding contracts for the purchase of onions stored in Central Asia to be delivered in the winter.

Сообщение Ukraine is importing onions from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan after a season of record high exports появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, Kazakhstan decreased by 50% the volume of potato exports, and increased its imports by 2.6 times in the first eight months of 2021. The geography of potato exports and imports has also significantly changed.

“2021 is a very unusual year for the potato market in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It started with a relatively low price level in many countries of the region, except for the Russian Federation, as due to lockdowns, there was again an excess of potatoes in Europe, that were not demanded by the producers of French fries. These potatoes were exported by EU countries, especially the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany at very low prices. Weather conditions during the growing season of potatoes also turned out to be unfavorable in such large producing countries as Russia and Belarus. Therefore, potato prices soared to record levels during the harvesting and the impressive imports started” explains Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

“Kazakhstan imported late potatoes from Russia, and early ones from Uzbekistan in 2020. Kazakh potatoes are exported mainly to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. However, potatoes in Russia were too expensive in 2021 – prices almost always doubled the level of 2020-2019. Therefore, Kazakh importers had to look for alternatives to Russian potatoes, and prices in their domestic market also remained relatively high, negatively affecting exports,” the expert explains.

As a result, the main volumes of potatoes in 2021 Kazakhstan imported from Pakistan and Iran. Even Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan exported a relatively large volume to Kazakhstan – 1.3 and 0.8 thousand tons, respectively. Even Georgia that supplied 200 tons appeared among the large exporters of potatoes to Kazakhstan for the first time.

As can be seen in the above graph, the situation with potato prices in the Russian Federation did not improve even after the harvest. Moreover, the gap with 2019-2020 prices continues to increase. Accordingly, Kazakhstan will not be able to count on supplies of potatoes from Russia in the 2021/22 season either.

Part of the potato harvest from the northern regions of the country is exported to the Russian market, which may lead to a new growth in potato prices in winter. There are active shipments of potatoes from Kazakhstan to Russia reported.

It remains to hope that the southern regions of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries will increase the area planted with early potatoes, which would help contain the price rise in spring. In the meantime, potato prices in the region remain higher than last year and continue to grow rapidly.

Uzbekistan is expected to renew the record for potato imports again by the end of 2021. According to our estimates, Kazakhstan has also been importing a record volume of potatoes over the past six years. Accordingly, the exports of potatoes will also be close to the anti-record.

Сообщение In 2021 potato imports in Kazakhstan reached the highest level in recent years – EastFruit появились сначала на EastFruit.

Potatoes, onions and carrots are the basis of many dishes in the traditional cuisine of the Central Asian countries, along with meat. The price levels for these products determine the cost of the vegetable component of the meals consumed in everyday life. Therefore, Sputnik Tajikistan included these vegetables in the list of the grocery basket for Central Asian countries, published the day before in the Telegram channel of the online edition.  Turkmenistan was not included in the list.

Since Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are among the EastFruit price monitoring countries for about 60 types of fruit and vegetable products, EastFruit experts have made adjustments for these countries and offer an overview of average retail prices for potatoes, onions and carrots in the capitals of Central Asian countries. Thus, prices for Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are provided by EastFruit, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – by Sputnik Tajikistan.

The most expensive potatoes turned out to be in Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan). In other capitals of the region, potato prices differ by a few cents and range from 38 to 41 cents.

The highest price for carrots is in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), followed by the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

The lowest price for onions is in the capital of Tajikistan, and the most expensive onions are in the capitals of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In general, if we consider a grocery basket of these three products, it lowest price is in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

Сообщение The lowest and highest prices for potatoes, onions, and carrots in Central Asia появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts note increased exports of watermelon from Uzbekistan in the third decade of June 2021, and in the last few days this created a huge demand for transport. Watermelons are now the absolute leader in the ranking of requests for transport for shipments of fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan to foreign markets. Onions are second in this ranking.

The season of cherries export from Uzbekistan can be said to be over, the export of apricots has also finished, although it has not been active due to the low harvest this year. The season of peaches exports has not yet begun and so far their price is not competitive on the main Russian export market. Thus, what is being exported from Uzbekistan and where?

According to participants in the logistics services market, the answer is clear: 80-90% of the requests for vehicles for exporting fruits and vegetables account for watermelon and onion. At the same time, according to EastFruit experts, about 70% of requests are made for watermelon and about 15% are made for onions.

Watermelons are exported to Kazakhstan and mainly to Russia. The geography of Russian cities is very wide, from the central part to the northern and eastern parts of the country. In 2020, the volume of watermelon exports from Uzbekistan reached a record level and amounted to 49.4 thousand tons, an increase of 7.5 times compared to 2019. About 90% of them were exported in August-September and only 6-7% in June and July. Considering high watermelon exports, setting a new record of its exported volumes is quite likely this year. However, the watermelon export season is just entering an active phase and it is too early to estimate it.

Read also: Dried fruits lose their leading position to fresh fruit market in Central Asia

Onions are second in the requests for transport for fruits and vegetables exports from Uzbekistan. They are exported to Russia and Kazakhstan. Compared to May 2021, wholesale prices for early onions in Uzbekistan have decreased by about 30%. Together with relatively high prices for early onions on the Russian market, they create an opportunity to export Uzbek onions to Russia. However, early onions are becoming cheaper every week on the Russian market, and there is a steady downward trend in prices. Also, the “traditional” period of early onion exports from Uzbekistan to Russia is close to an end. Thus, EastFruit analysts forecast a gradual decline in onion exports in the coming weeks.

The rest of the requests for transport for shipments of fruit and vegetables from Uzbekistan to foreign markets refer to the export of melons, tomatoes, apricots, cherries and peaches.

Сообщение Watermelon and onion, Uzbekistan’s top export items at the end of June 2021 появились сначала на EastFruit.