January 15 2007, 12:11

Can the onion purchases done by Russian wholesale companies help stabilize the prices on Ukrainian market?

According to information of the specialists of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, Russian wholesalers do not hurry to take an opportunity to purchase large wholesale shipments of cheap Ukrainian onion, despite of the fact that the price difference for this product is significant in Ukraine and in Russia. Ukrainian producers and exporters also prefer to supply onion to Poland because of lower risks and higher onion prices in this country.

At the same time, the specialists point out that onion supplies to Russia can be quite profitable due to the absence of import tariff rates and a considerably higher price. It is possible to purchase large onion shipments for $0.11-0.13/kg and more in Ukraine. Moscow wholesale bases purchase onion for $0.31-0.58/kg. There are not many alternatives to Ukrainian onion in Europe - the traditional largest supplier, Poland, imports onion from Ukraine. The other EU countries have also significantly

decreased onion production. It is possible that large Russian wholesale companies will pay attention to the opportunities provided by Ukrainian onion market. If it happens, the prices for onion will be somewhat stabilized on Ukrainian market. However, no significant price growth for this product should be expected, to the experts' opinion.