Evgen said that prices last season had disapointed farmers ($60-110 m/t), however, he expects an increase in onion prices this season. In 2016, the company produced 5,000 tons of onions (which includes 1,000 tons of red and 500 tons of white onions), but this year the company expects production of their yellow onions to reach around 7,000 tons.
Before the embargo, Russia had been one of their largest markets for exports, but nowadays the company is focused on Asia and Europe, and have recently been in talks to break into the African market.
Exports start around mid-August, and the first containers to Asia should arrive in September. Greenwill's are supplying to Asian countries such as S.Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, of course, in addition to Europe. Evgen said that logistically it makes sense to make Asia and Africa their main markets because their cold stores are located in the Southern region of Ukraine and have good logistics to the sea port. They are hoping to start export to Africa by next season.
"We have had interest from Nigeria, Congo, Ivory Coast and Ghana, but working in these countries has proved challenging because of the extremely complicated government situation and the monopoly of some countries."
Along with Asia, the company also does a lot of business with Europe, especially Poland. However, Evgen said that trade is complicated with Poland due to pricing.
"Yellow onions are our second best seller out of the 10,000 tons of vegetables they produce annually. Our seeds are sourced from well know Dutch suppliers such as Bejo, Rijk Zwan and Nunhems. We have a storage capacity of 5,000 tons, and then the onions are put in smaller packaging for the domestic market, and larger packaging for exports." concluded Evgen.
For more information:
Evgen Konopelkin
Greenwill
Tel: +38-067-681-31-31
Email: sales@greenwill.com.ua
greenwill.com.ua