Ukrainian farmers started increasing wholesale price for their onions this week. The main reason for the price raise was drying out supply of inexpensive onions, which were not suitable for long-term storage. Growers in the meanwhile tried to store high-quality products expecting that prices for them would rise later in the season reports Eastfruit.
Today, Ukrainian farmers are offering fresh onions for 12-16 UAH/kg (US $0.33-0.44/kg), which is on average 20% more than a week earlier. According to market participants, the rise in onion prices provokes a noticeable revival of trading activity in this segment on the eve of the holidays. Despite the price increase, Ukrainian farmers still sell onions at least 43% cheaper than in the same period last year. Market is expecting further onion price raise prospects for price increase are not very clear.
First of all, stocks of onions in many countries, such as Turkey, Egypt, Poland, Moldova and all countries of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) are much higher than a year ago. Also, in the EU, despite lower per ha yields in many countries and problems with quality, overall volume of production was mostly higher.
Therefore, actual price development may surprise the market participants since everyone is betting on price rise and storing as much onions as possible.
Source: east-fruit.com