tradicionalmenteinovador - Brazil Buyers & Sellers

Keeping an eye on
the neighbor
>> National production has soared over the past years, but
supplies, in part, still depend on the onions from Argentina
Onions are one of the most consumed horticultural products
in the Country, although a slight reduction (about 7%)
occurred from 2002 to 2008, to 3.23 kilos per person a year.
Due to rising yields, production volumes equally soared over
the same period, about 12%. Nevertheless, a partial dependence
on imports, coming mostly from neighboring Argentina,
still holds.
Total production in 2009, latest official data available,
reached 1.51 million tons, the biggest crop on record. With
regard to 2010, surveys conducted by the Brazilian Institute
of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), disclosed in May
2011, estimated the crop at 1.55 million tons, but followed
by a decrease to about 1.43 million tons in the current year,
which, according to analysts, was caused by lower prices
induced by oversupply. A survey conducted by the government
regarding the Gross Production Value (GPV) of 2011,
also attests to a steep decline in the production volumes,
some 62.6% from the previous year. Still in 2009, the value
of the crop ascertained by Embrapa Vegetables, in Brasília
(DF), amounted to nearly R$ 1.7 billion, clearly attesting to
the relevance of this activity. Onion crops are also very labor
intensive, employing almost 800 thousand workers in the
year of reference. The production areas, which then reached
68 thousand hectares, are located in the South, for the most
part, particularly in Santa Catarina (Ituporanga region)
and Rio Grande do Sul (São José do Norte). Onions are also
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