Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 17.6
Garlic Trade: Imports, 2005.
(
A. cepa
) which is still a comparatively recent introduction
into China. A close look at the production figures in a
country report from 1993 suggested that only about one-
tenth of the 'onions' produced in China were actually dry
bulb onions (Xu
et al
. 1994), although the situation may
have changed in the last few years. Recently a report from
an importer into the Japanese market suggested that China
may be increasing onion exports in the East Asian region
(S. Follen, quoted by Kennington 2003). Japan is a major
regional importer and buys large early-bulb onions from
tropical countries such as Taiwan, Thailand and the
Philippines, and Spanish-type onions from the western
United States. Australia and New Zealand are also keen to
develop East Asian markets for onions; they already supply
onions to islands of the Pacific as well as exporting to
Europe. Other competing southern hemisphere exporters
include Argentina, Chile and South Africa, all of which
have seasonal advantages for selling to Europe, the United
States, Canada and Japan.
Mexico is increasingly important as an early onion
supplier to the United States. The United States is a major
producer with several different seasonal production
regions which are exploited in turn by merchants to
maintain supplies to markets all year round. Different US
regions specialize in producing sweet onions (e.g. Vidalia
in Georgia), large Spanish-type onions or pungent winter
storage types. The United States exports onions at some
seasons and imports them at others. In South America,
Brazil is a large-scale producer but cannot meet domestic
demand. The shortfall is mostly obtained from Argentina,
which has several different onion production regions. Peru
is scaling up its onion production and exports sweet onions
to the United States in the off-season period.
The Netherlands sells within Europe, acts as an entrepôt
and supplies African and other overseas markets, particu-
larly during their off seasons, and also sells to any country
which experiences a sudden onion shortage. Within West
Africa, Niger and Mali sell onions to the wetter coastal
states and well-established trade connections exist between
the producers and buyers in coastal cities, mediated by
groups of merchants who control this commerce (David &
Moustier 1996; 1998). Some big importers such as
Singapore and the Emirates in the Arabian Gulf evidently
also act as entrepôts for neighbouring states, since they
both import and export substantial quantities and (at any
rate in the case of Singapore) lack the areas of farmland
needed to produce onions.
The world garlic trade is dominated by one producer, the
People's Republic of China, which is by far the most
prolific producer and successful exporter (Table 17.5).
Quantities
(mt)
Value
($ million)
Country
World
1 430 975
843 130
Algeria
12 931
4.8
Australia
8237
7.2
Bangladesh
54 815
24.2
Belgium
5176
10.8
Brazil
132 581
73.5
Canada
11 840
13.9
Chile
5611
2.9
Colombia
22 530
6.6
Czech Republic
7256
10.9
Dominican Republic
7382
3.5
Ecuador
8518
4.2
France
27 498
47.4
Germany
14 357
31.2
Haiti
6483
5.7
Indonesia
283 283
66.7
Italy
26 601
40.6
Japan
30 268
24.1
Korea, Republic of (South)
15 633
7.9
Kuwait
6474
2.8
Malaysia
102 972
48.8
Mexico
16 908
21.4
Morocco
6205
3.8
Netherlands
18 510
19.0
Oman
8414
4.0
Pakistan
51 030
18.0
Philippines
49 925
24.6
Poland
7776
8.4
Portugal
6517
10.3
Romania
9519
3.1
Russian Federation
41 133
18.3
Saudi Arabia
27 670
10.0
Senegal
7471
2.8
Singapore
10 893
6.4
Spain
13 360
16.9
Sri Lanka
18 426
4.6
Thailand
47 803
6.3
Tunisia
6431
1.5
United Arab Emirates
24 832
12.7
United Kingdom
15 290
21.9
United States
69 640
74.9
Viet Nam
72 766
17.5
Yemen
7870
2.9
Note: Countries importing >5000 mt are listed.
Source: Data from FAOSTAT (2008).
