At the end of March 2023, EastFruit wrote about the beginning of the harvest of early winter onions in the southernmost region of Uzbekistan. As we forecast in the article, a week later, the first large batches of onions became available on the wholesale markets of the country’s capital.
This year, wholesale lots of onions of the new crop appeared in the markets of the capital of Uzbekistan about ten days later than last year. As of April 7, 2023, the average wholesale price for new crop onions was 8 000 UZS/kg ($0.70). The average wholesale price for last year’s onion (harvest 2022) on the same day was 6 000 UZS/kg ($0.53), which is 25% cheaper than early onions.
We remind you that the January frosts destroyed the shoots of the “August” winter onions that formed from August-September 2022 to January 2023. Additional time was required for the formation of new shoots and their development, and this led to an increase in the onion ripening time by about 10 days. Thus, the start of harvesting early winter onions in the spring of this year has shifted by the same time.
It should also be noted that Uzbekistan is the largest exporter of onions in Central Asia with an annual export volume of more than 200 000 tonnes. In mid-March 2023, Uzbekistan lifted temporary restrictions on onion exports established back in January of this year.
According to experts, chain-quality onions and volumes of new crop onions available for export will become available on the domestic market of Uzbekistan around April 15-20 this year.
For more information: east-fruit.com