October 19 2005, 16:20 Agrarian Marketing Project

Onion price started increasing on Ukrainian markets

Because of deficient onion supply the price on this commodity is constantly growing on Ukrainian markets. As some market players report, the majority of producers leave onion in storage hoping for better prices in future. Those who continue supplying onion, sell it by small sets. According to the data provided by some market players, wholesale onion price is USD 0.19-0.23/kg in the southern oblasts.

According to the prognoses of the Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP) in 2005 6% more onion will be harvested comparing to 2004. Onion deficit proves that more than usual volumes are stored. According to the assessments done by AMP specialists, such situation may cause the unfavorable price for stored onion in winter, so that the hopes of the market players will not be justified. As the specialists said, onion harvest is of good quality this year, it should be stored well.

At the same time, onion import influences significantly its price in Ukraine. In high price period large volumes of onion are supplied on Ukrainian market illegally, as market players think. The main onion supplier to Ukraine is Poland. However, if the onion prices are relatively high this year in Poland, or if illegal onion import becomes more problematic, the prices will be kept on significantly high level.

We'll remind that legal onion import to Ukraine is limited much by high imported taxes worth EUR 0.2/kg.