According to EastFruit analysts, onion prices in Ukraine continue to rise, and the average wholesale price has already reached 14 UAH/kg, which is equivalent to $0.48 US dollars. Thus, since the beginning of harvesting of the late onion varieties in August 2023, prices on the Ukrainian market have already increased by 40%.
Interestingly, prices are now growing faster than in the last season, when by spring onion prices in Ukraine set all historical records. At that time wholesale price for onions reached 48 UAH/kg or $1.31 US dollars, and retail prices were much higher.
According to EastFruit weekly price monitoring, onion prices in the 2022/23 season increased by the end of the first ten days of December by only 25% in relation to prices at the beginning of harvesting. Thus, the rate of price growth then was almost 40% lower than now. However, the price level during onion harvesting in 2022 was significantly higher than in 2023.
What should Ukrainian consumers and producers expect in the upcoming months? Will onion prices set new records or, conversely, decline by spring?
“Unlike last season, when the prospects for rising onion prices were not in any doubt, this year the situation is radically different. And although the majority of market participants firmly believe that onion prices will rise by spring, very often it is the majority that is mistaken in their forecasts,” says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
For more information: east-fruit.com