Approximately 3.5 million visses of new monsoon onions enter regions outside Yangon

Around 3.5 million visses of new monsoon onions were supplied to the two commodity centres in the onion-producing regions other than Yangon in the first 15 days of December.
Speculations about possible damage to monsoon onion plantations triggered by the erratic weather conditions in October 2022 were afloat on social media.
Although monsoon onions were grown earlier than usual, there was less chance for them to enter the markets. The traders in possession of summer onion stocks forecast the price of the old summer onions is likely to remain on upward trends in the domestic markets.
Nonetheless, the damage is extremely low and new monsoon onions enter the markets earlier than usual. Since the second week of November, old summer onions have not been supplied to the commodity centres in Myingyan and Pakokku townships.
Only new monsoon onions flowed into the big depots, with 190,546 visses supplied to the Pakokku market on 14 December and over 230,000 visses to the Myingyan market on 16 December. There is no entry of old summer onions in the Yangon market since 6 December.
Between 6 and 19 December, over 1.8 million visses of new monsoon onions were brought into the Yangon markets.
The fresh supply of new monsoon onions brought down the prices from K3,500 to K1,800-2,000 per viss in the regions outside Yangon.
Similarly, the price of onions from the Myittha area decreased from K4,000 per viss in early December to K2,300 on 19 December in the Mandalay market.
Likewise, weak demand and large supply pushed down the price from K4,400-4,800 per viss in early December to K2,600-3,200 on 19 December in the Yangon market as well.
Traders keep the stocks of summer onions on account of the long shelf life of up to more than six months. The traders make a profit or loss from them. Monsoon onions cannot be stored due to moisture content.
The output of summer onions in 2022 dropped by half. Despite a large supply of new monsoon onions and erratic weather conditions, they fetched higher prices than those of the previous years. The summer onion yield is expected to be high like monsoon onions.
Normally, there are 100,000 acres of onions in the country, with the production of 600 million visses. They are commonly found in Mandalay, Sagaing and Magway regions. —TWA/EMM