China: This year's onion export market positive

"China is a huge producer of onions, and its production regions are spread all over the country. Compared to last year, this year's production from Shandong and Henan has decreased slightly, that of Gansu has increased somewhat, and that of Yunnan and Sichuan has stayed the same. The annual peak season of Chinese onion exports lasts from June until November. Currently, the onion export has grown 25% from last year," according to Mr. Xue Cuncai of Jinxiang County Cun Cai Agricultural Trade Co Ltd.

"As an agricultural trading company in onions, we purchase red, yellow and purple onions and scallions from Jinxiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Dongbei and Jilin. We annually sell around 10,000 tons. Our onions are mainly exported through the port of Qingdao to countries in South East Asia, for example Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and high end markets, like America and Canada."

"From my experience, there are big differences between the purchasing of onions by the large foreign markets. The South East Asian markets, like Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, prefer large onions with a diameter of 5-7 centimeters. High end markets, like America and Canada prefer those of 3-5 centimeters, and onions of 5-7 centimeters are the most popular amongst Colombian purchasers."

"Because of extreme weather, there has been a huge drop in the Indian onion production. This has undoubtedly created an opportunity for Chinese exporters to increase their export. I believe, however, that this new market gap is quite small. Because the Indian onion production is very big, even though there has been a large drop in production, it still does not have to import onions from other countries. India has already exported large quantities of its small 3-5 centimeter onions to China."