EastFruit analysts draw attention to very high wholesale prices for potatoes, carrots and onions in Belarus that even continue to grow, despite the stocks in the country being at their maximum. At the same time, vegetable suppliers in the region are actively looking for contacts of importers of potatoes and other vegetables of the “borsch set”.

According to the monitoring of wholesale prices for vegetables and fruits in Belarus by EastFruit analysts, the price for potatoes increased by another 14% last week.

Thus, potato prices continue to break records of recent years for this period of the year, which contradicts the statement of the country’s authorities claiming that the potato harvest will increase in 2021. However, after our publication on Belarus importing potatoes during its own harvest for the first time, the Ministry of Agriculture of Belarus announced that the harvest will be “at the level of 2020”.

Obviously, market participants do not trust these statements, as potato prices in the country have risen again. Wholesale prices for potatoes in Belarus are now 78% higher than last year.

In addition, potatoes in Belarus are now more expensive than in other countries of the region, 40% more expensive than in Ukraine and 88% more expensive than in Poland.

Moreover, even in Moldova, which used to import large volumes of potatoes from Belarus, the prices are now much lower. Potatoes in Moldova are now 2.3 times cheaper than in Belarus. Therefore, now it is quite profitable to export Moldovan potatoes to Belarus!

Unfavorable weather this year, in particular the summer drought, had a negative impact on the harvest of potatoes, carrots and other vegetables, and rainy weather during the harvest aggravated the situation. This slowed down harvesting and reduced the quality of the vegetables and their suitability for long-term storage.

The price of carrots in Belarus has risen even more sharply than potatoes. Wholesale buyers of carrots pay for them twice as much as a year earlier.

Usually, carrot prices in Belarus decrease in the first half of September and then remain relatively stable. By the way, early carrots in Belarus this year cost much more than in previous years. This was due to their unprecedentedly high prices in Russia and the active supply of Belarusian carrots to this market. However, the prices for carrots in Belarus are now even higher than those in Russia by a third!

Ukraine has the lowest carrot prices in the region now. Therefore, it is Ukraine that is now actively supplying carrots to the Belarusian market. Also, carrots are imported to Belarus from Russia. It is also profitable for importers of Belarus to buy carrots in Poland, because they are 81% more expensive in Belarus now.

Onions in Belarus have risen in price less than other vegetables and this is the only vegetable that fell in price last week. Wholesale prices for onions in Belarus are now 45% higher than in 2020 at the same time and exactly twice as high as in 2019.

Unlike carrots and potatoes, conditions for growing onions are not suitable enough in Belarus. Therefore, the country often becomes a net importer of onions. At the moment, onion prices in Belarus are higher than in other countries of the regions, although both in Ukraine and in Russia they have risen comparing to last year.

Therefore, the gap in onion prices in the region is not as large as in potato and carrot prices, and its imports are not yet so attractive. This means that the prospects for growth in its prices are quite good now. After all, even Ukraine is now discussing the possibility of importing onions from Central Asia and has already started importing them from Moldova. Therefore, importers from Belarus should now take a closer look at onions from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. By the way, you can find suppliers in the largest fruit and vegetable trading group here.

Participants of the Belarusian vegetable market believe that potatoes, onions and carrots will continue to rise in price this season, because they consider production volumes to be insufficient and the quality of products low. They also emphasize that now mainly products not subject to long-term storage are offered on the market. As soon as their stocks are depleted, prices for all vegetables will rise again, traders say. Therefore, today’s price records for potatoes and root crops in Belarus are likely repeat soon.

Сообщение Prices for potatoes, onions and carrots in Belarus are record high – what are the reasons? появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, onion prices in Russia are at an unusually high level for this period of the year. At the moment, vegetable growers can sell high-quality products at an average price of 17 rubles/kg, which corresponds to 23 US cents per kg – 53% more expensive than the same time in 2020.

In Russia, the peak phase of harvest for storage usually begins in August. Therefore, the supply of products on the market at this time is usually at its high, and prices are usually close to the minimum. For comparison, in 2019 at this time, onion prices in Russia were 12 rubles/kg, and in 2018 – 15 rubles/kg.

Read also: Ukraine exported the largest volume of onions in eight years and  significantly expanded the geography of exports

It is interesting to note that the majority of market participants believe that there are no reasons for a decrease in onion prices in the new season. And this, in turn, continues to aggravate the situation on the market, when intermediaries and growers themselves try to store as much onion as possible. Accordingly, at the moment, mainly products of a lower quality are supplied to the market, and, at the same time, prices are the highest in recent seasons.

It is obvious that the low prices for onion in the past season have discouraged many growers from growing this crop in Russia. Negative weather conditions at the beginning of summer also led to significant losses in onion yield and had a negative impact on its quality.

In the first 6 months of 2021, Russia reduced onion imports by 35% in relation to 2020 and had one of the lowest import levels in recent years during this period of the year. The main suppliers of onions to the Russian Federation were: Egypt, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Interestingly, Russia also exported onions in fairly large volumes in the first half of 2021, and the main countries where onions were supplied from Russia were Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus. It should be especially noted that Russian onions were exported to the EU countries: Romania and Poland, where about 350 tons of products were shipped!

However, the volume of onion exports from the Russian Federation was insufficient to maintain the level of domestic prices at a sufficient level and maintain the interest of vegetable growers in growing onion. Therefore, the area of ​​onion in the country has nevertheless decreased.

At the beginning of August 2021, interest in onion pricing was very high, so we conducted a survey among the subscribers of our Telegram channel regarding the prospects for onion pricing in Eastern Europe in the 2021/22 season. The overwhelming majority of participants, 68%, believe that onion prices will rise, while 11% voted for the option “onion prices will rise several times”. So far, the optimistic forecasts for onion prices are confirmed, but the season is just beginning.

Сообщение Record high prices for onion were recorded in Russia at the end of August появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, Ukraine in the 2020/21 season has significantly increased volumes and expanded the geography of onion exports. In total, more than 34.1 thousand tons of onions were supplied to foreign markets, worth $ 6.5 million.

This was the largest export volume over the past eight seasons, but far from a record one, because in the 2012/13 season, i.e. nine years ago, Ukraine exported 54.3 thousand tons of onions.

“It is probably not worth considering such an export result as a great success,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the investment department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“The fact is that throughout the previous season the price of onion in Ukraine remained at a record low level – about 9 US cents per kg, while prices in the EU were much higher. Ukraine remained the country with the lowest onion price in the world all season, and the average export price last year was the lowest in four years. This indicates the ineffectiveness of export efforts and low quality parameters, because Ukrainian vegetable growers are still focused on growing raw materials, not finished products. If onion production in Ukraine was initially guided by EU quality standards, and traders and / or growers were systematically engaged in export promotion, then exports could well be a record, and the average price for products would be much higher. According to my estimates, Ukraine was quite capable of exporting more than 100 thousand.

As a result of the low onion prices that have lasted the entire past season, many small Ukrainian farmers have given up growing onions. Therefore, wholesale prices for onions are now twice as high as a year earlier at the same time. As you can see, the rise in prices was not due to an increase in exports and product quality, but due to the actual refusal of growing onion by some farmers and a decrease in supply. Accordingly, in the new season, most likely, onion exports will decrease significantly again.

And, nevertheless, a significant expansion of the geography of Ukrainian onion exports in the 2020/21 season can be seen as positive. Moreover, more than half of all onions were delivered to the EU countries. Onions  were supplied in significant volumes to more than 10 EU countries, but the main volumes of onions were exported to Romania – more than 40% of all exports.

It is gratifying that 18% of onions were exported to the countries of the Middle East – about the same as to the CIS countries. Moreover, in the Middle East, the number of Ukrainian onion buyers continued to expand, with Iraq and Turkey being the main importers. And in the CIS, Ukrainian onions were purchased in large volumes only by Belarus, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

In Asia, Bangladesh was the most important importer of onions from Ukraine, which for the first time bought almost 2 thousand tons of Ukrainian vegetables. The fruit and vegetable trade of Ukraine with Malaysia is also expanding, which, in addition to apples and blueberries, began to purchase large volumes of Ukrainian onions. In the 2020/21 season, more than 470 tons of onions from Ukraine were exported to Malaysia. In general, the countries of Asia accounted for about 9% of all exports supplies of onion.

Also, a positive moment is the first systematic exports of Ukrainian onions to the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, the possibility of which was already discussed in a previous article. More than 350 tons of onion were delivered to Cameroon and 140 tons to Sierra Leone. Several other African countries imported about 50 tons of onions from Ukraine each. This is very important because Africa is the most important market for the world’s largest exporter, which is the Netherlands.

Thus, the exports of Ukrainian onion turned out to be quite well diversified. It would be good to support these distribution channels in the new season, however, so far, the pricing environment is not ideal.

By the way, at the beginning of August 2021, we conducted a survey among the subscribers of our Telegram channel regarding the prospects for onion pricing in Eastern Europe in the 2021/22 season. The overwhelming majority of participants, 68%, believe that onion prices will rise, while 11% voted for the option “onion prices will rise several times”. So far, the optimistic forecasts for onion prices are confirmed, but the season is just beginning.

Сообщение Ukraine exported the largest volume of onions in eight years and significantly expanded the geography of exports появились сначала на EastFruit.

The Russian market is witnessing a rapid rise in prices for onions, according to analysts of the EastFruit project, which is due to the end of the harvesting season of early onion varieties, as well as a fairly high demand in this segment.

According to the daily monitoring of the project, onions on the Russian market have risen in price by an average of 40% since the beginning of this week. Today, farmers ship them at 14-20 RUB/kg ($ 0.19-0.27/kg), depending on the quality and volume. For comparison: last week the price, as a rule, was no more than 16 RUB/kg ($ 0.22/kg).

According to market participants, the rise in onion prices provokes high demand. At the same time, their offer on the market at the moment is quite limited. Most growers have already finished selling early onion varieties, while peak harvesting of later varieties is planned to start closer to mid-August.

The main problem of the current season is the quality of onions. Due to rainy weather in the first half of summer, farms have a fairly large percentage of substandard products, which farmers try to sell immediately after harvesting.

It is noteworthy that onions in Russia are on average 1.6 times more expensive now than at the beginning of August 2020. At the same time, most market players do not expect a drop in prices in the near future.

Сообщение Onion prices have risen sharply in Russia 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.

The Ukrainian company Organic-D has started growing “borsch set” vegetables in 2018. The company supplies products to large retail chains in Ukraine and is negotiating with importers to access the foreign markets. Vadim Krychkovsky, co-founder and director of the company is confident that with the development of exports, producers of fruits and vegetables could be competitive. The company cultivates about 1000 hectares of land today. 200 hectares are used for growing vegetables.

The company plans to increase the area planted with vegetable crops to 300 hectares by 2023. Vadim Krychkovsky, director of Organic-D, has told about the peculiarities of running a vegetable business in Ukraine. He has also talked about the success of the company and its plans to enter export markets.

“We are guided by the main principle — food safety and high quality. In Ukraine agricultural companies used to pay much less attention to the environment, ecological production, minimization of fertilizers, and a rational and careful treatment of soil. However, now the trend is to be as safe and high-quality as possible. This brings an economic effect and allows to trade not only in Ukraine but on export markets, as well,” Vadym Krychkovsky said.

“Organic-D ” began to cooperate with international retailers ‘Metro, Auchan, and carried out the first deliveries to the hypermarket Epicenter in Ukraine this year. To meet the requirements and high standards of retail, the company has certified its products according to the GLOBAL G.A.P standard.

“This is the requirement of the chains. It took some effort and some investment. After that, retailers saw that the quality of our products was certified by European certification bodies. If you cooperate with a powerful retailer, the others also start paying attention to you and offer cooperation. The main thing is to go through all the stages (certification, etc.), get to work with retail chains, fulfill their requirements and deliver quality products on time. In this case, cooperation can be quite profitable,” — Vadym said.

He notes that one of the company’s goals is to change the domestic market so that not wholesale buyers set a pricing policy, but producers can grow high-quality products and independently determine where to sell them.

“Retailers are ready to pay even more for potatoes of the same quality as we make, but they would not buy substandard farm potatoes (infected with diseases, non-marketable type) even at 5 UAH/kg. Therefore, we often cooperate with local producers, consult, and give them access to technologies so that they can enter the domestic market together with us and sell products at a good price”, said Vadym Krychkovsky.

The company is present on the market of the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine in the segment of “borsch set vegetables” and continues to increase production volumes to successfully expand its market share in Kyiv and central regions of Ukraine, as well as enter export markets.

“To achieve the goal, we need to sell about 20 thousand tons of products per season. The company produces about 8 thousand tons of products today, so there is room for improvement”, the director of the company explains.

The company considers international trade and exports as the main step. Negotiations on exports to the United Arab Emirates are underway, as well as negotiations with partners in Uzbekistan. Negotiations on supplies to Belarus have been suspended due to the socio-political situation in the country.

“We are also interested in the European market, but the difficulty lies in the fact that the EU legislation requires that the products exported must be washed. Technically, we do not know how to deliver washed products to distant destinations yet. We are focusing on two products now — onions and potatoes. There is a demand for such products in Poland. However, we are primarily focused on deliveries to the UAE. The advantages of the external market are stable contracts in foreign currency. Export looks very interesting considering the “floating” Ukrainian market”, said Vadym.

About the advantages of Organic-D, he said: “We have two main competitive advantages —  price and quality of products. We also have a GLOBAL G.A.P certificate required for export. We grow modern hybrids and varieties of vegetables of foreign selection. For example, French-bred Clause carrots, Japanese-bred beets (from Sakata), German-bred potatoes (Europlant). These varieties are expensive, but there is the opportunity to have higher yields. Vegetables and potatoes also have better taste and an attractive appearance”.

The company is also trying to replace chemical fertilizers with organic ones. According to Vadym Krychkovsky, this allows not only to improve the quality of products but also to reduce the cost of production, because the prices for mineral fertilizers rise by 20-30% annually.

Сообщение Organic D is planning to export quality onions, carrots and potatoes to the UAE and EU появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit experts from Tajikistan, Ukrainian trading companies are actively buying onions from local producers. Onions in Tajikistan are rapidly falling in price, because early onion varieties cannot be stored, and their supply is currently excessive. Moreover, harvesting of onions in the northern regions of Tajikistan will begin in the near future, which could lead to a complete price collapse.

At the moment, Tajik vegetable producers have already reduced prices to 4 US cents per kg of onions, while buyers are trying to bring the price down to 3 cents per kg. However, at such prices, farmers are already having losses, therefore, as a rule, they do not go for further price reductions.

Considering the prices for onions in Ukraine and the delay of the season of sales of winter onions, the importing Tajik onions to Ukraine is quite profitable now. On the Ukrainian market, there are still many offers of high-quality onions of the 2020 harvest at prices ranging from 4 to 6 UAH/kg ($ 0.15-0.22/kg). Imported onions, mainly from Uzbekistan, are sold at an average of 10 UAH/kg ($ 0.36/kg). However, the expected supply of onions from Tajikistan may slightly reduce prices.

Competitors of Ukrainian buyers of onions in Tajikistan are importers from Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, who are also interested in Tajik onions at attractive prices.

It is notable that Ukrainian companies not only buy fronions but are also recruiting labor in Tajikistan to work in various sectors of the economy, including agriculture.

Сообщение Ukrainian traders buy cheaper onions in Tajikistan появились сначала на EastFruit.

For the first time since summer 2020, Ukrainian producers have managed to get good prices for onion, EastFruit reports. Although the growth rates are still quite insignificant, the very fact that the prices have started increasing has already inspired some optimism among local farmers, who still have substantial stocks of products.

Onions were relatively cheap almost everywhere in the 2020/21 season, and the pace of sales and prices continued to disappoint producers. Moreover, the lowest price for onion in the region was recorded in Ukraine, and it almost did not change since July 2020.

At the end of the previous week, onion prices in Ukraine rarely exceeded 4.50 UAH/kg ($ 0.16/kg). Farmers are now ready to sell high-quality onions at 4.00-5.00 UAH/kg ($ 0.14-0.18/kg), and onions of bad quality are sold from 3.00 UAH/kg ($ 0.11/kg).

The producers themselves report that, despite a significant supply of onions on the market, the demand for high-quality products has slightly increased this week. Wholesale companies and supermarket chains began to actively replenish onion stocks ahead of the long May holidays, and farmers managed to push prices up. Moreover, the share of low-quality onions on the market has slightly decreased, and the number of high-quality onions has increased.

See also: Unusually high prices for greenhouse cucumbers in Ukraine and Russia. Can it get even higher?

Will onion prices continue to rise after the May holidays, or was it just a temporary increase, and the price situation will stabilize after the pre-holiday surge in demand? On the hand, due to bad weather conditions in Ukraine, the start of sales of new harvest onions, as well as of other early vegetables, will be delayed. This will help producers to sell last year’s stocks at the end of the current season. On the other hand, the stocks of onion in the storage facilities of Ukrainian producers are still quite high and close to record levels for at least the last few years. Thus, this will also affect the prices of early onions when they aarrive on the market. Farmers , despite the increase in prices, are generally unhappy with the results of the season and, according to EastFruit analysts, the preliminary forecast for the reduction of onion areas in Ukraine in 2021 is still relevant.

Сообщение Finally better prices for the onion producers in Ukraine появились сначала на EastFruit.

Ramsons (Allium ursinum) is becoming increasingly popular among consumers in Europe and Asia.

This herbaceous perennial of the genus Allium of the Amaryllidaceae family appears in spring as the first vitamin green in shady forests or along rivers and waters. However, it can also be cultivated. Moreover, wild ramsons cannot be harvested in many countries, because it is listed in the Red List of Threatened Species in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, some regions of Russia and other countries.

Various useful properties have made it popular in Europe and Asia – ramsons stimulates appetite and is used as a remedy due to its rich structural formula. In all respects, it can be called a “superfood” and the demand for such superfoods has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it’s time to pay attention to this wild garlic, which can be cultivated even industrially.

We wrote earlier about similar superfoods in Tajikistan – Anzur onion and mountain onion siyokhalaf or “black grass” .

The popularity of ramsons makes it a very lucrative agricultural crop that can bring up to $ 500,000 in income per hectare!

The secret of the popularity of ramsons, and the technology of its cultivation are explained in this EastFruit exclusive material.

Ramsons can be eaten fresh, baked, pickled and dried

Ramsons is a plant with wide, pointed, elongated green leaves, which are attached to juicy cylindrical stems. Leaves of ramsons are harvested in spring when the leaves appear until flowering in early summer.

It grows in all European countries, as well as in the Caucasus, Turkey and the Middle East and it has been used as a medicinal and vegetable plant for more than 7 thousand years.

“In Ukraine, ramsons is predominantly a wild plant growing in forests and fields. At the same time, seeds of garden ramsons can be legally bought and planted. The ramsons season is rather short. Ramsons grows in the central and northern regions of Ukraine in the second half of April and early May. Ramsons is eaten both fresh and used in various salads, soups and vegetable dishes. In addition, it is a good preservative – it is sprinkled on meat to keep it longer. Ramsons smells like delicate garlic, so it is a great addition to salads, soups or pesto. When fried, it loses most of its sharpness, but its aroma only intensifies. A spicy taste of ramsons in tomatoes perfectly complements the taste of any meat or side dish. Pickled ramsons has also a spicy taste,” Kateryna Zvierieva, international consultant at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO, says.

Canned ramsons produced in Russia is sold on the Internet:

Ramsons can also be frozen or salted.

Ramsons is popular in the Balkans, especially in their central and eastern parts. In Bulgaria, it is dried and used as a component of the “Sharena Sol” seasoning or separately. It is mashed, then mixed with salt and dried, and then stored in a glass container. Another option is to finely chop the shoots, dry in the shade, grind and mix with salt. The drying process takes about a month, and the temperature should not exceed 30 degrees to preserve the properties and taste of the product.

Wild VS cultivated ramsons

Being an ephemeroid – a plant with a very short growing season and slow development of leaves, young ramsons can release the first edible leaves only in its 3rd year. That is why this wild plant was listed in the Red List of Threatened Species in many countries. At the same time, many residents of Ukrainian villages say that ramsons grows in their fields and forests like a weed, it is rarely used for food, and therefore it actively reproduces everywhere.

Ramsons is a shade-tolerant and simple plant that is becoming popular in commercial production  

Considering its useful properties and high cost (its retail price reaches $ 23.7 per kg in Ukraine), ramsons is becoming more popular as an agricultural crop for commercial cultivation.

Before cultivating ramsons, special soil preparation is needed: it should be enriched with humus, leafy soil, mineral fertilizers, and wood ash. Ramsons is planted in autumn or early spring according to the scheme 30-40×20-, 15 cm. Care for the plant includes timely watering, loosening the soil and fertilizing.

Ramsons is a shade-tolerant and rather simple plant: it forms too small leaves in sunny areas. Given sufficient spring moisture, ramsons can grow in the shade of trees. A poorly lit place is quite suitable for it, and it is important to water it in case of severe drought.

The plant should be reproduced in a vegetative way by planting bulbs. When there is no planting material, it can be sown with seeds. The seedlings that appear are very small, so they need to be further planted in a well-fertilized and weed-free area. Only after a year or two, they are replanted in a permanent place. If flower stalks are found on the transplanted plants, they must be broken off so that they do not deplete the transplanted bulbs. Several times over the summer, plants can be fertilized – this will prolong their growing season. In one season, about 2-3 kg of ramsons can be harvested from 1 sq. m of the sowing area or about 20-30 tons per hectare.

This means that if you sell the entire crop at retail, you can earn up to half a million dollars per hectare!

Useful properties of ramsons

Ramsons is rich in vegetable protein, useful amino acids, as well as various vitamins that are important for both men and women. Due to the high content of vitamin C – about 100 mg per 100 g of fresh leaves, and phytoncides (natural antibiotics), ramsons is considered an antiviral plant.

It also contains: B vitamins, provitamin A (beta-carotene), and mineral salts that maintain acid-base balance in the body, normalize water-salt metabolism, useful for the endocrine, nervous, and digestive systems. Ramsons contains salts of calcium, potassium, iron, iodine, copper, fluorine, boron, sulfur and fiber.

Ramsons can cleanse the blood vessels, dissolving plaque cholesterol and normalize blood pressure. It should be consumed by people suffering from spring vitamin deficiency and poor appetite. The plant’s feathers help improve bowel function, and the leaves have anti-inflammatory properties.

Perhaps ramsons will also become popular in our region in the coming years, making consumers healthier and bringing profit to farmers.

Сообщение Ramsons, a profitable superfood: health benefits, production technologies and marketing появились сначала на EastFruit.

Onion market in Eastern Europe is in a serious turmoil – EastFruit has recently published several important materials on onion and problems producer face. At the same time, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries have already started harvesting early onions.

High interest in the topic makes it important to clarify what the general situation on the regional onion market is, what to expect in the coming weeks and in the new season, whether production falls, prices recover, how export niches change, and who can make profit on onions.

These issues will be covered in this voluminous material. We advise you to read it to the end to get a complete picture of the “onion perspectives”. Let’s start with the analysis “from west to east”.

The most western market included in the EastFruit wholesale price monitoring is Poland. To understand in more detail the current situation in Poland, we should look at the situation in the EU as a whole in the 2020/21 season.

Onion market of the European Union and Poland

According to the AMI agency, the total onion production in the EU decreased by 4% in 2020 compared to the previous year to 6.2 million tons, but this was due to a sharp drop in production in Spain. Spain is the largest producer and second largest exporter of onions in the EU after the Netherlands.

The production of onions in Spain fell immediately by 30% in 2020 compared to the previous year and was 20% lower than the average for the previous 3 years. In other countries, production has either been at an average level of the past few years or increased compared to 2019.

Thus, there was an abundant supply of onions on the EU market, while the demand remained the same or decreased in some segments. Firstly, due to new waves of COVID-19 Pandemic, the demand for onions from HoReCa enterprises and processors has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Secondly, consumers have realized that eating onions does not help prevent coronavirus infection, therefore, the surge in demand recorded in the spring of 2020 has not been repeated. Thirdly, the demand for onions has also decreased in the traditional export markets for EU producers, and the export of onions to countries outside the EU remains at the level of the previous year.

Since the domestic demand has significantly decreased in the EU, price levels depended, among other things, on the export capacity and quality. For instance, Poland exported the same volume of onions in the first half of the 2020/21 season as in the previous season (69 thousand tons), although production in Poland increased by 8% compared to the previous year. As a result, although the situation in Poland developed from the beginning of autumn as it did last year, prices were decreasing, and there was no jump in prices in the second half of April, unlike last year.

At the same time, onion exports from Netherlands in the first half of the season were at their highest level in the last five years (1 million tons). In addition, Dutch exporters managed to take over those markets where Spanish producers were previously present. Accordingly, prices were slightly higher in autumn and winter than last year.

For example, the average price for assorted yellow onion from a packing facility in the Netherlands was $ 0.31/kg in November 2021. But exports fell sharply since January and prices fell to last year’s level. Price for sorted yellow onion from a packing facility in the Netherlands is currently $0.23/kg. In fact, the price of onion in the Netherlands is now even lower than in Poland, as it also includes the costs for sorting. Similar trends are observed in Germany, and a significant increase in onion prices in the EU in the spring of 2021 was recorded only in Spain, where, production fell significantly.

Ukrainian onion market

Moving further to the east, we move in Ukraine, where several negative factors coincided on the onion market in the current season. Firstly, the production of winter onions increased significantly in spring 2020, and the sales season for winter onions extended, causing the delay of the sales of later varieties. Secondly, one of the highest yields of onions for storing was harvested in the fall. Thirdly, the lack of systematic approaches to the exports of onion has led to insufficient export, although it has potential to achieve record results this season , and in April, onion exporters from Ukraine even knocked down the rise in prices in neighboring Belarus.

As a result, the lowest price for onions in the region is in Ukraine. The main volumes of onions of acceptable quality are offered at $0.11-0.13/kg, and the maximum price for export-quality onions is $0.16/kg. Nevertheless, there are quite a few such producers on the market, since, according to the farmers, the quality of the stocks is now quite low. Moreover, the surface cultivated with onion is said to be reduced sharply in 2021. Ukrainian onions of below-average quality can be purchased even at $0.07-0.09/kg, but the demand is very low.

Russian onion market

Onion producers in Russia are also unhappy with the situation in spring 2021. Market players here also discuss a possibility of reducing the surface cultivated with onion in the new season. Supermarket chains and large wholesale companies prefer to buy either last year’s imported onions from Central Asian countries, or not to rush into purchases the new harvest from this region. In addition, the imported onion harvest in 2021 from Egypt is present on the market despite the higher price.

At the moment, buyers are ready to pay up to $0.16/kg for high-quality local onions. Russian second-class onions are offered from $0.09/kg, and processors buy onions starting from $0.05/kg.

Meanwhile, there are shipments of last year’s products from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries in significant volumes in Russia, and their price reaches $0.23/kg at its maximum. There are onions of a new harvest from Egypt, but due to the relatively high prices they are mostly supplied to supermarket chains. Egyptian onions are offered from $0.45/kg in the southern regions, and in Moscow, can be sold at $0.52-0.57/kg.

It is also obvious that Russian retailers are now interested in new harvest onions from Central Asian countries, where harvesting has already begun. This will be discussed below.

Onion Market of Moldova

Dissatisfaction with the situation on the onion market is now not limited to Ukraine and Russia, but is felt in other markets as well. For instance, there are farmers in Moldova that are ready to give onions for free , in order to not spend money on disposal. Most of the producers are also certain that the area cultivated with onion will decrease in the new season, and according to local seed suppliers, it may decrease by 40% this year.

At the moment, prices for onion in Moldova vary within the range of $0.15-0.17/kg and are already 2.6 times lower on average compared to the same period last year! The main reasons for the lack of price growth are the active imports, which begins immediately after local farmers attempt to raise prices, and the absence of exports.

In Romania, which previously bought onions from Moldova, Moldovan exporters are losing to exporters from the Netherlands and Poland, and exporters from Ukraine do not let Moldovan producers raise prices in the local market.

Onion market in Belarus

Another country where Ukraine knocked down the rise in onion prices this spring is Belarus. Although the average price for onions in Belarus rose from $0.27/kg to $0.37/kg in March, imports from Ukraine immediately stabilized the prices, and it even dipped slightly to $0.35/kg.

Onion market of Georgia

The next country where onion prices are currently significantly lower than last year is Georgia. At the same time, for the second season in a row, onion imports to Georgia have been kept at the highest level for the last five seasons. Thus, Georgia imported almost the same volume of onions in July 2020 – February 2021 as in the previous season (21 thousand tons).

In fact, the pricing on the market for onions in Georgia is again based on imports, and prices are lower than in April last year, due to their decline in the markets of neighboring countries and the generally weak demand in the market due to the pandemic. In addition, onion cultivation in Georgia were seriously affected by heavy rainfall and hail in September 2020, so onions of initially unsatisfactory quality were often stored.

Onion market of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

Meanwhile, in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, prices for last year’s harvest are also lower than a year earlier, although importers from Russia continue to purchase significant volumes of onions produced in 2020.

In Uzbekistan, this price decline is due to the devaluation of the local currency, as prices in Uzbek currency have remained on last year values in the past few weeks.

Onion production in Tajikistan increased in 2020, and the country approached the second half of the season with rather high stocks, which continues to put pressure on prices. In addition, market players are preparing for an active start of the early production season and are stepping up sales of last year’s stocks. The minimum price for onions of the 2020 harvest in Tajikistan fell to $0.05/kg in the middle of this week.

Early onion market in Central Asia

The first batches of early onions arrived in the countries of Central Asia at the beginning of April. So far, the onions are not matured enough, but Uzbek and Tajik exporters of fruit and vegetables are ready to ship 15-20 tons of early onions and guarantee their high quality. According to the information from the producing regions, the size of the onion bulbs meets the required minimum standards. Nevertheless, buyers are not enthusiastic to import products for the time being, fearing that the onions are not dry enough to withstand long-term transportation. The second limiting factor is the relatively higher price, because last year’s onions of acceptable quality can be bought 2-3 times cheaper in these countries.

Winter onions are now sold at an average of $0.29/kg in the wholesale markets of the capital of Uzbekistan, and the prices at producer’s level start at $0.21-0.22/kg in the southern region of the country. So far, most of the winter onions here are still unsuitable for export, and the intensification of supplies from the southern regions of Uzbekistan to foreign markets is expected in the third decade of April – early May, and from the central zone it is expected 2-3 weeks later.

In Tajikistan, winter onions arrived on the market a little earlier – at the beginning of April and it was offered on the markets and supermarkets at a retail price of about $1.00/kg. As of mid-April, farmers sell at $0.30/kg, while in wholesale markets the price is $0.40-0.45/kg. Currently, the demand for early onions is quite high, but the supply on the market is still insufficient. Considerable quantities of early onions from the southern regions of Tajikistan will begin in early May, and from other regions – 2-3 weeks later.

It should be noted that wholesale companies from Russia, the main market for onion exporters from Central Asia, are ready to supply onion of the new harvest at $0.44-0.52/kg in the hope of a quick decline in prices in the coming weeks. Market players in Tajikistan also report an active demand for the future harvest from importers from Afghanistan, who are already contracting onions for delivery in 10-15 days at an average price of $0.14/kg.

It should be considered that the price of early onions began to fall immediately, last year it happened short after the first large batches of products appeared on the Central Asian market. Prices in both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan fell threefold by the end of May 2020 compared to the beginning of April. Market players attributed the fall in prices in the spring and summer of last year to Covid 19 restrictions that impeded the normal export of early onions to Russia, although Tajikistan had a certain alternative in export supplies to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many farmers suffered significant losses and were forced to sell their products on the domestic market, which sharply increased the volume of supply. Part of the harvest was given to the population for free.

However, the situation may develop in a slightly different way this year. According to interviewed farmers in the Tashkent region, after last year’s price collapse, winter onion producers have reduced their surfaces cultivated with onion in Uzbekistan, some of them up to 50%. In addition, the onset of early cold weather in November-December last year had a negative impact on the winter onion crop, which led to a reduction in the 2021 harvest. In the southernmost region of the country (Surkhandarya), farmers did not experienced reduction in the cultivated area, but they also noted the negative impact of early winter on the winter onion yield, which led to a decrease in the harvest volume and an increase in the quantities of small-sized onions.

On the other hand, winter onion producers in Tajikistan increased the cultivated area last fall due to active exports to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Spring frost in 2021 certainly affected the harvest, but it is still too early to quantify the impact of the weather factor.

Summary and prospects of the onion market in 2021: 

1. Many of the countries of the EastFruit region can enter the new season with high stocks of the 2020 harvest (as in Ukraine, for instance) and their constantly deteriorating quality (as in Russia).
2. However, the start of the early production season in Eastern Europe will be delayed by at least two weeks, which could help farmers to sell off their last year’s stock.
3. On the other hand, exporters of early onion from the countries of Central Asia can also take this opportunity, especially since a large supply of their early export quality onions will be available in the near future. However, early onion will not be cheap, which means that there are still hopes for an increase in onion prices in May-June among those farmers in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus who have stocks of high-quality products in modern storage facilities.
4. At the same time, it will be difficult for producers of early onions in Russia and Ukraine to get a high price, and Ukraine may completely lose the market of Belarus if the latter switches to Central Asia.

A decrease in onion cultivated area can be expected in most Eastern European countries in 2021. However, farmers often change their plans during the season, and the clearer picture will be seen only by the end of summer. If their plans do not change, onion prices in Europe may begin to recover as early as July.

Сообщение Onion market analysis of the EU, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe появились сначала на EastFruit.