The first wholesale consignments of Uzbek-made onions have already entered the wholesale markets of Ukraine. This information is especially interesting after the season of Ukrainian onion export, record for the last 8 years.

“Despite the fact that onions from Uzbekistan are offered in Ukraine 15-25% more expensive than locally produced onions, the demand for them is quite good. As market participants explain, the main reason for the willingness of the Ukrainian buyer to pay more imported onion is the higher quality parameters of the Uzbek onion,” the message says.

The fact is that Ukrainian producers, expecting an increase in onion prices in winter and spring, tried to put all high-quality onions in vegetable stores. Accordingly, the local market is dominated by products of not the highest quality, which creates opportunities for the import of high-quality vegetables at the present time.

"We also receive information about the purchase of onions by Ukrainian traders not only in Uzbekistan, but also in Kazakhstan, which exports up to 100 thousand tons of onions per year, has a well-developed infrastructure for storing onions and cheaper and faster logistics to Ukraine. Purchases of onions in Tajikistan look even more interesting, where prices are even lower than in Uzbekistan, however, the supply of Tajik onions to Ukraine is not yet discussed, since logistics from Tajikistan will be more expensive, and it is more difficult to collect a consignment of export quality onions here than in Uzbekistan.", - say analysts.

We add that the average wholesale prices for onions in Ukraine, despite the quality problems, are on average 2.5 times higher than a year earlier, at the same time they are higher than in 2019. By the way, they have not changed since mid-August 2021, which is typical for seasons with equilibrium supply and demand. The last time onion prices rose in the fall was in 2018, but then, closer to the new year, they began to decline and extended the decline until April 2019. This was followed by a sharp rise in prices to a record level in history in May 2019, but then the reasons for the rise in prices were due to a general shortage of products in Europe.

“Now onion prices in Ukraine are higher than in any other country in Eastern Europe. Only in Belarus wholesale prices for onions can be compared with Ukrainian ones. It is interesting that in Russia wholesale prices for onions are 33% lower than in Ukraine, although there are also problems with product quality there. As for the countries of Central Asia, prices for onion are significantly lower than in Ukraine. In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, you can now buy onions twice as cheap as in Ukraine. But the difference in absolute prices is not too high (about $ 0.15), which makes importers look for the cheapest logistics options. And even this will not allow the importer to earn money if he does not sell imported onions at a higher price than Ukrainian onions,” the experts explain.

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

“Attention should also be paid to the downward trend in onion prices established over the past two weeks in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This significantly increases the chances of exporting products to Ukraine. Ukrainian traders believe that in the near future, after the farmers run out of onions that cannot be stored for a long time, their prices will start to rise rapidly. Therefore, they are actively concluding contracts for the purchase of onions stored in Central Asia, with supply in the winter,” the experts summed up.

East-fruit.com