September 26 2006, 16:02

Onion price growth: does it mean shortage or boom?

According to the data of price monitoring conducted by "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, since the beginning of past week the producers of the southern oblasts have increased the sales prices for onion 10% in average. The specialists say, the producers sold most shipments for $0.17-0.19/kg past Friday. As soon as on Monday this commodity was sold for not less than $0.21/kg.

The market players explained this fact by a great demand for good quality onion from the side of wholesale companies. The increased onion supplies to Poland influenced much the price growth for this commodity.

Market players say that at the present moment the wholesale companies are actively purchasing good quality onion for storage. The peak of active harvesting of storage-fit onion varieties coincided with rainy period throughout Ukraine, so the volumes of quality commodities were reduced.

According to the updated production and price forecast for fruits and vegetables, conducted by the Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP), onion production in Ukraine has increased 16% in 2006 due to the extended acreage. Onion price is higher than it was at the same period of time past year. The specialists explain this fact by greater activeness of the wholesale companies which create the impression of a greater demand. "The companies are trying to fill storages as quickly as possible. When this process is over, onion prices can even decrease a little for a certain period of time", Maxim Yenchenko says, the AMP Market information Specialist.

Please read the detailed forecast of production and prices for onion in October issues of the "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal.