Reports from EastFruit analysts on May 6, have highlighted a concerning trend in the onion markets of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where prices for the new harvest have plummeted to record lows. This stark decline in prices has left local vegetable growers reeling, as wholesalers now pay a mere $0.10-0.12 per kilogram for high-quality, sorted, and packaged onions. Even products directly from the field fetch even lower prices, signaling a significant blow to the livelihoods of farmers. In a surprising turn of events, a ton of onions from the 2024 harvest can now be procured on the wholesale market for just $100.
The situation is particularly dire in Tajikistan, where an informal ban on the export of onions and carrots was inexplicably introduced back in February. Consequently, prices in Tajikistan are even lower than those in Uzbekistan, with no indication yet of the ban being lifted.
Comparisons with previous years further underscore the severity of the current downturn. Just a year ago, onion prices were three times higher, and in 2022, they were 2.2 times higher than the current rates. Remarkably, prices for onions from the 2023 harvest in Uzbekistan now surpass those of early onions from the new harvest. This disparity is indicative of the unprecedented decline in prices for the current harvest.
Conversely, in Tajikistan, prices for early onions are slightly higher than those of last year's harvest. However, the abundance of cheap onions from the previous year has led to a situation where they are no longer decreasing in price, while early onions from the new harvest continue to experience depreciation.
Analysts predict that the harvest of early onions in both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will be relatively high, dampening hopes for a significant price recovery in the coming weeks. Market participants are cautiously optimistic about a potential uptick in exports by mid-May, which could help stabilize onion prices in Central Asian countries. Nevertheless, expectations are tempered, as a return to the price levels seen in previous seasons seems unlikely.
Earlier Daryo reported that the crisis is rooted in an extraordinary surplus of onions, worsened by exceptionally high exports in 2023. Uzbekistan exported an astonishing 95% of its onion harvest to Eurasian Economic Union markets, amounting to 222,800 tons between mid-March and late June alone, a notable 53% surge compared to the prior year.
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