Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 17.3
Trade in Green Onions and Shallots:
Exports, 2005.
Country
Table 17.4
Trade in Green Onions and Shallots:
Imports, 2005.
Quantities (mt)
Value ($US million)
Value
($US million)
Country
Quantities (mt)
World
522 033
376.4
World
547 165
131.8
Afghanistan
14 807
0.9
Austria
1051
0.7
Austria
2451
0.5
Belgium
4937
5.3
Brazil
1186
0.2
Brazil
169 518
22.8
France
21 111*
24.5
Bulgaria
17 068
1.6
Germany
2089
2.4
Côte d'Ivoire
58 231
13.1
Indonesia
4259
1.5
France
1453
1.5
Italy
1091
1.3
Germany
6226
6.6
Mexico
273 193**
286.4
Indonesia
53 071
15.4
Netherlands
34 155
11.0
Italy
4311
4.3
New Zealand
160 705
43.9
Lesotho
1250
0.4
Poland
1169
0.9
Mauritania
2734
1.0
Note: Countries exporting >1000 mt of the combined
crops are listed.
*France is an important exporter of dry bulb shallots to
other European countries.
**Mexico's exports are mainly of green onions (both
Allium cepa
and
A. fistulosum
) to Europe in seasons
which are unfavourable for salad onion production there.
Egypt, which exports large amounts of green onions to the
United Kingdom in winter, is not listed by FAO in this
category.
Source: Data from FAOSTAT (2008).
Mexico
49 043
15.3
Netherlands
2294
1.1
New Zealand
1009
0.6
Pakistan
71 205
9.9
Paraguay
65 964
10.9
Poland
1200
0.2
Tunisia
6845
0.6
Switzerland
1002
1.5
Trinidad and
Tobago
6305
1.8
United Kingdom
11 371
10.6
Uruguay
1962
0.3
Note: Countries exporting >1000 mt of the
combined crops are listed.
Source: Data from FAOSTAT (2008).
To find satisfactory figures for dry bulb shallots is more
difficult, since in the FAO statistical reports they are grouped
together with green (spring or salad) onion. Green onion is a
perishable leafy crop which is currently traded in consider-
able quantities, for example from Mexico and Egypt to
Europe during the European winter, but does not seem to be
reported consistently (Tables 17.3 and 17.4). Within Western
Europe, where dry bulb shallots are popular for cooking,
France and the Netherlands are important producers, while
in the southern hemisphere, Argentina also produces shallots
for export. Tropically adapted (short-day) shallots are
important in several hot and wet countries such as Thailand
and Indonesia: shallots and sometimes the similar but larger
multiplier onions are also produced in southern India, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, coastal and some
mountainous parts of West Africa, Ethiopia and the West
Indies. The main advantage of growing shallots in the tropics
is that they can be propagated vegetatively to provide an
onion-flavoured vegetable in countries where true onion
seed is difficult to produce.
Trade routes
Trade in onions in Europe and the Mediterranean area
traditionally involved the warmer producer countries such
as France, Spain and Egypt sending onions to more
northerly countries such as Britain and Germany. In
Eastern Europe, Poland and Hungary also have cultivars
with good keeping qualities which are exported. Several of
the ex-USSR republics of Central Asia now figure as
exporters (Table 17.1), probably to Russia. In recent years,
selection of the Dutch Rijnsburger types of onion and the
development of mechanized growing methods together
with improved storage technology have allowed onions to
be produced more cheaply in northern Europe. However,
while technically these countries could be self-sufficient
for onion supply, the rise in the power of the supermarkets
