Peru: Developing a new sweet red onion variety

Key Peru SA is a company dedicated to the production, packaging and export of sweet yellow onion, of which it produces about 25,000 tons per year. The company also has an ongoing project to produce and market sweet red onions. Roberto Vargas Monge, the company's commercial manager, said the company had two farms, one in Ica and another in Huaura, where they had already tested 60 different red onion varieties. 

Key Peru's main export markets are the United States, Central America and Europe. The company will soon start shipping to Japan. "We've also noted that domestic consumption of fresh yellow onions in Peru is increasing. We are working quite well and the consumer is beginning to differentiate its flavour, which is milder than that of the onions used to cook, and it is suitable for salads, grills or just to eat it raw," said Vargas Monge. 

According to him, yellow onions are an interesting option for families because they "conserve all the health properties of onions, but have a sweet taste which facilitates fomenting their consumption among children. The development of sweet red onions will benefit us because we will have a greater variety of colours and, therefore, different properties."

Once this sweet red onion is developed it will be exported to the United States and sold in the domestic market. "Last year we did some tests in a supermarket and we did pretty well; the greatest challenge we'll have is that consumers might associate it with the traditional spicy red onion, and that's something we don't want."

The company's primary objective now is to complete the testing period and find the variety that can serve them as standard in the long-term.