October 24 2006, 13:26

Will Ukraine be able to fix export supplies of onion?

According to information of the Agricultural Marketing Project, an average price for onion still occupies a significantly low level. The preconditions to this situation are both a significant onion production increase and a good quality of the grown commodities. At the present moment an average wholesale price for onion is 15% lower than at the same period of time in 2005.

The market players think that the prices may decline even lower in coming weeks in view of the lack of demand for onion on the inner market. However, the price for onion in Ukraine is one of the lowest prices recorded in Europe. Taking into account this fact, we can expect the attention to Ukrainian market to grow from the side of buyers in the countries of Western Europe, as well as Poland and Russia.

At the same time, Ukrainian wholesalers have no experience in the export of onion and other fresh vegetables. And, Ukrainian producers are not ready to provide calibrated, peeled and packed onion which is able to meet the EU requirements. If the national market players are able to set up onion post harvest handling and the supplies of this commodity, the price growth for onion will be quite possible on the inner market. For example, the dynamic price growth for peeled onion is observed now in Poland; Polish wholesalers supply this commodity (mostly frozen) to the European Union. The prices are growing because of the decrease of the inner production and labor deficit. This fact may constitute a nice niche for Ukrainian suppliers to occupy.

The meetings with the potential buyers of onion and other fruits and vegetables from Poland and other countries will be organized during the International Trade Forum included to the program of the third international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2006. Open market". We'll remind that only about 4 weeks are left till the end of participants' registration.