The red onions in Shandong province are already harvested. The sun drying process is also basically finished. Mr. Liu from Weifang explains that "a part of the young shoots were lost in the spring cold, so the production volume is reduced by some 20%."
The price for yellow onions is about 1.30RMB/kg. Red onions on the other hand, go for 0.6RMB to 0.7RMB/kg. There are two reasons for this price difference. "Firstly, the price for red onions was really high last year, so many farmers started to cultivate them and the supply increased. Secondly, there was a hailstorm, damaging the red onions that weren't harvested yet. So there is a large supply in the red onion market, but the quality is low," clarifies Mr. Liu.
By contrast, the cultivation area for yellow onions was relatively small this year. Harvesting was done earlier, so the onions escaped the hailstorm. The good quality ups the price. "Onions resemble garlic and ginger, they can be stored for up to a year. Because the onion production was low last year, the price for storage onions reached 4RMB/kg."
Mr. Liu points out that the onion cultivation surface in Weifang is large. Not only do they supply the domestic market, but a large quantity is also exported to Japan and South-Korea with the help of local packaging and sorting facilities.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
