In recent months, China’s onion export prices have been rising. Recently, affected by the news that Egypt extended its onion export ban, onion prices surged sharply within half a month.
"The main demand in the market is red onions. Driven by this, the price of yellow onions has also increased to a certain extent. There is a shortage of high-quality red onions in the market, so the increase has been even greater. At present, in addition to regular orders from the Japanese and Korean markets, orders from the European market are growing rapidly and the demand is large.” said Alan Xu from Jining New Silk Road Food Co., Ltd.
"Two weeks ago, the price of red onions had reached ￥3,000/ton, higher than previous levels, but the increase was relatively slow. However, in the past half month, the price has surged by nearly 30% and is currently ￥3,700-￥4,000/ton. Demand is still going strong.”
"The reasons are: First, the harvest in European production areas this year was not as good as expected, resulting in a shortage of onions in the European market and a large demand for imports. Secondly, Egypt recently decided to extend the onion export ban. Egypt is an important source of imported onions for Europe. After the export ban was extended, many European orders were transferred to China, driving up prices. On the other hand, some domestic stockists are hoarding onions to speculate on prices, accelerating price increases."
It is understood that Egypt mainly produces round red onions, which meet the needs of the European market. China produces many varieties of onions, including round red onions, which has attracted many European orders to China.
"However, due to the Israeli-Palestinian war, shipping to Europe needs to take detours, which greatly increases the transportation time and increases the risk of rotting. Therefore, we are more cautious about red onion orders from Europe at this stage, but yellow onions can continue to be shipped."
Jining New Silk Road Food Co., Ltd. specializes in onions, garlic, ginger and other products. Its business covers packaging, processing and export, and it has its own cold storage and factory. Export markets include Europe, Australia, South America, Japan and South Korea.