The drought in Europe made sure the onions’ crop and sizes are less than ideal this year. The big European powerhouses like the Netherlands and even Poland and Germany might have to get some help to meet the usual demand. Ukraine seems eager to step in.
Ukrainian onion exporter Desento has been watching the European market closely. Most of the competitors are now their clients, as the drought resulted in smaller onions and crops: “The usual competition is having a hard time. Holland, Poland and Germany are now all clients, rather than competitors. We recently visited the Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong and managed to land a couple of new contracts. Our onions will fill the gap that Holland and Poland left behind,” Desento CEO Alex Marchenko explains. “But we’re also exporting quite some volume to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Annually we ship about 5000 tones.”
The reason his Ukrainian onions are so popular is not hard to understand, Marchenko continues: “For the European market it’s hard to get onions that are between 60-80mm in size. The harvested onions this year are smaller than that, but we have plenty of onions that range between 80 and 100mm in size, so all of our competitors want them to be able to supply their supermarkets with decently sized onions.”
Although this season is no standard season by any means, Desento is hoping to get some decent clientele out of it: “We’re trying to penetrate the Asian market, which orders lots of onions from Europe. Hopefully some will be looking for big sized onions and enjoy what we send them!”
For more information;
Alona Boiko
Desento
Tel: +38068 811 60 68
Email: [email protected]