Onion traders receive handsome profit in 2022

The price of onions hit an all-time high in late 2022. Those traders who keep the stocks in their hands reap a great profit.
On 25 November, the price of old summer onions from the Myingyan area broke the record price at K4,800 per viss, while the prices of new onions stood at K3,300-K4,000 from the Myingyan area and K3,600-K4,100 from Myittha area.
Meanwhile, Chinese potatoes moved in the range of K2,500-K3,500 per viss in the Yangon wholesale market.
New monsoon onions that entered the Pakokku commodity centre on 9 November are of low quality.
Following the supply of 274,349 visses of monsoon onions on 21, 23 and 24 November, the highest price was only K3,525 at the Pakokku commodity centre.
The highest prices of summer onion were around K900 per viss in the March-May period, whereas those from the Myittha area fetched K1,100 per viss. Those traders who kept the stocks offered a price lower than the dealers in the Yangon market. There is a wastage of 25 per cent of onions stocks while being stored at a warehouse for six months, said a dealer.
If the trader stores 1,000 visses, only 750 visses can be left after clearing the damaged one. On account of the damaged stock, they can receive only K2,250 per viss rather than the market price of K3,000. Traders gain a decent profit of K1,500 per viss in the second half of 2022. Those traders who stored 10,000 visses of onions had a profit of K15 million.
There are traders working on a large scale with more than 50,000 visses of onion stocks. They do a roaring business this year. The growers faced losses in 2020 and 2021 due to low prices. The price climbed on the back of strong demand at the border in 2022. The farmers who cannot afford to store the stocks sell to traders at market price. So, they were not able to capture this benefit when the price hit a record high.
The profit in mid-2022 exceeds the loss in 2020 and 2021 for those traders working on a large scale. Along with the high prices of other kitchen groceries in mid-2022, onions traders made the highest profit after chilli pepper traders. — TWA/GNLM